How very dare we! Anyone else had to fill the form in that says tut tut you’re going to get a fine if you continue with this behaviour!!!

yup. our kids have 100% attendance records and they still threatened us with it.
we made sure that the kids had all their work to take away and made sure that they completed the work.
they didn’t fine us.

No point filling the form in IMO
They always refuse, its just a paper-chase

We got refused permission to take our lad out for the last day of summer term

how big is the fine?

The mrs (who works as a helper at the school) has had the form hidden in her handbag for the last coupla weeks like some kind of kid who’s been sent home with a letter from the headmaster, I just said get it filled in, what can they do? I’d love to know the amount and how the apparent fine system works.

Double post 😕

i might just factor the fine into the cost of the holiday…and make sure my lads come back with amazing tans and speaking a foreign language 🙂

Fine??

Tell them to go boil their heads, or offset it against the fines you imposed when they failed to turn up for work last winter

I wonder how many parents would think holidays were more important than education if education was a privilege and not a right.

Sounds as though you are pretty diligent to ensure that your kids do not fall behind but there are plenty of folk out there who do not take the ongoing work with them so when they return the kids are behind the rest of the class and that means the teacher has to devote extra time to one child to the detriment of the other pupils. I know it costs more to holiday in scholl holiday periods but it is not like they have a shortage of time off.

I wonder how many parents would think holidays were more important than education if education was a privilege and not a right.

hang on I’ll just fire up the delorean and find out

holidays

Assumption

My brother relocated from Yorkshire to Cornwall last year and had to take his kids out of school on a couple of occasions before the move (seeing properties, checking schools).

He had no end of hassle getting the ‘permission’.

To be fair the fine would still probably be far cheaper than the cost difference in the holiday!! Nearly £600 dearer to go next weekend! I’m afraid until they’re doing “proper” exams this will continue.

What is this fine and how do they impose it?

They’re my kids and I’ll decide what’s best for them. Eldest daughter just went to Cyprus with the wife for a family wedding, missing 5 days of school. I put a letter in, they could have objected if they liked, wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference. Probably going to go away next feb or march, and I’ll probably have to do the same again, but the difference in price between term time and school holidays means it’s a no brainer. They can throw whatever book at me they want.

I tell the school it’s to give the other children time to catch up, they never do.

A friend of mine who’s a headmaster said that it’s largely a jumping though hoops exercise and they’d never really chase after parents of kids who normally had a good attendance record and weren’t really going to be impacted. It’s where kids are being taken out and already miss lots of school apparently.

But he did also say that it’s very dependent on the specific school.

They’re my kids and I’ll decide what’s best for them.

Is that what you would say to the hospital if they inconveniently decided one of your kids should be there because of illness?

Schools don’t just come up with this stuff to inconvenience you you know? It may well be that you have every intention of making sure your kids get the education they need, but unfortunately lots of parents apparently don’t give a toss, which is why it is a good thing for schools to forcefully remind people that taking their kids out of school is not something that should be done lightly.

So what happens to the money they charge in fines? How do they have the authority to charge fines?

We just ring the school up the day before to tell them. Never a problem. Perhaps my kids are a pain in the arse at school as well?

as my 6 year old tells me all they do is watch Phineas and Ferb at her Primary, i’m sure she can catch up, I suspect that coupled with her home viewing it could possibly be a PHD in the making.

I’m not sure anyone has ever been fined as a consequence of a “holiday” out of school during term time.

Parents knowing best is a funny concept though! That’ll be because of the parenting course and proficiency test they took before having the sprog? The odd good parent with the best interests of the kids at heart taking kids out of school on a very rare basis are going to cop one of these letters because of maintaining a level playing field and treating everyone equally. There are significant numbers of ignorant and selfish parents who think of themselves before their kids who need this sort of warning to keep them in check to make them necessary.

IMO frequently planning family holidays that withdraw your child from term time schooling for no good reason is bad parenting. Just take cheaper holidays and get your life perspectives sorted.

They’re my kids and I’ll decide what’s best for them.

I think the best thing for my kids is warm gravel for tea and the birch if they speak before being spoken to. How dare these so-called “authorities” deem to tell me any different.

if u dont like the school policy send em to a different school?

I might sue my mum for taking me out of school during term-time. I am sure I would have gone to Oxbridge and studied medicine if it wasn’t for the annual two week jolly to Cornwall effecting my education.

M_F I know that you say this in jest, but I’ve seen similar happen too regularly. Kids (admittedly at the top of their schooling) that just never got back on top of their work and ultimately failed to get the grades they needed to go the uni they wanted. For some it can be the last straw. Same can be said for time off for ill health but one is self inflicted and the other bad luck.

There is also a particular brand of snotty middle class parent that are quick to point fingers at staff and schools for failing to support their kids in the right way(never child’s fault) but only too quick to withdraw their kid so they can get a skiing trip in.

A work colleague got in trouble for taking her daughter to see a dying relative in hospital.

Convert – possibly true.

I was an average achiever and don’t suppose for a minute my holidays effected me though.

Don’t tell my mum though, I am serving her papers already…

My eldest is due to start ‘proper’ school in September.

From what I understand, if you want to take your child out of school during term time you’re considered to be a disgusting low-life similar to a mass-murdering racist paedophile who hurts animals.

Somebody told me it’s because missing school will damage a childs development. Or some such drivel.

Does anybody seriously believe that missing one or two weeks of school each year is really going to have a noticeable impact? … seeing as they’re already not at school for 12 weeks a year, plus ‘in-service training days’, plus other bank holidays…

Does anybody seriously believe that missing one or two weeks of school each year is really going to have a noticeable impact? … seeing as they’re already not at school for 12 weeks a year, plus ‘in-service training days’, plus other bank holidays..

But for those 12 weeks they are not missing out and falling behind.

What if that was the week they were taught something that is the base for lots of other things. For instance in maths what if that was the week they learnt the rules of algebra ( I know someone is going to say they don’t do that any more) They now can’t do anything that is built upon that.

Its a really competitive world out there and if your not already top of the class then surely you need all the help you can get.

damn this compulsory education, the parents deserve a skiing trip.

personally I would be pissed off if I was a parent of a child where the class is behind due to having to repeat stuff just because some parents cannot be inconvenienced by their child’s schooling.

personally I would be happy if the fines were bigger, and enforced.

mastiles_fanylion – Member
I might sue my mum for taking me out of school during term-time. I am sure I would have gone to Oxbridge and studied medicine if it wasn’t for the annual two week jolly to Cornwall effecting my education.

i doubt youd have gone to oxbridge but you might have learnt when to use affecting and effecting

Does anybody seriously believe that missing one or two weeks of school each year is really going to have a noticeable impact?

And what impact do you think it would have on the class as a whole if each child was away for 1 or 2 random weeks?

How do you think the teacher would keep track of who had covered what? How would the teacher cope with trying to bring thirty kids up to speed with the different bits they had missed out on?

What do you think the aggregate level of extra disruption in the class would be from all the kids asking extra questions and needing extra help because of bits they had missed out on?

I don’t think anyone is really going to take action to stop a child occasionally being out of school, but taking your kid out isn’t without consequences, for them or for the class as a whole.

Taking kids out of school to go on holiday simply because you can get the holiday cheaper during term time?

Don’t you know that holidays are more expensive during the holiday breaks when you choose to have the kids?
Bloody inconsiderate conspiracy between the schools and the holiday companies if you ask me

Or

Holidays? You can afford holidays? You lucky lucky etc

i doubt youd have gone to oxbridge but you might have learnt when to use affecting and effecting

You see – my parents destroyed what little chance I had in life. I shall speak to my solicitor and have him put that in the papers too.

But whilst we are at it…

i doubt youd have gone to oxbridge but you might have learnt when to use affecting and effecting

i I doubt youd you’d have gone to oxbridge Oxbridge but you might have learnt when to use affecting and effecting
😛

my parents destroyed what little chance I had in life

Can you sue your parents about their DNA?

Surely they’ll just countersue your grandparents?

re: taking kids out of school to get a cheap holiday and then blaming the school for saying ‘hang on, they’re supposed to be here by law you know!’ – it’s not the fine that stings, it’s the social services involvement.

It’s nice to know that all those who are happy to regularly take their kids out “know what’s best for their kids”. Probably also goes along with “I’m alright jack, I’ll do what I want and screw the rest of you”. It can be a pain epsecially as the holiday costs are significant when you have to go during school holidays. Part of the price I suppose of having kids. But schools need to have some sort of structure and agreement with parents to try and ensure that most pupils are in school at the same time. There are plenty of holidays during the year and I would imagine it could get pretty frustrating to the teachers, and disruptive the whole class if kids are off willy nilly throughout term time. You may think your kids are only missing a few days / a week or so. Fair enough, but what if all the parents of all the other kids in the class thought the same as you – but took off on their holidays at different times? Although the implementation of these papers and fines looks like big brother how about taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture, try and understand why they are there and consider other people as well, not just yourselves.

ps. Not a teacher. And yes I have kids.

Does anybody seriously believe that missing one or two weeks of school each year is really going to have a noticeable impact? … seeing as they’re already not at school for 12 weeks a year, plus ‘in-service training days’, plus other bank holidays…

Well those two weeks constitute 5% of the actual term time, I’m going to say that it certainly has the potential to impact a childs schooling. Whether it actually will or not will depend on the individual but expecting schools to not take such absence seriously is foolish.

It’s not the school saying they should be thee, it’s the law. School’s just doing what they have to.

If I still taught in primary, I’d love it if every parent took their kids out for the last two weeks before the summer 🙂