Aww Mazz, after everything your poor girl (and you cos you're her mum) has been through, she's
gonna need this holiday.

OK, serious head on for a minute here...(get the smelling salts ready for Auntie Pink )

In February of this year, I was invited to attend a meeting at one of my son's schools about holidays during school time.
At the meeting were various members of the local council, people from the local education department, some heads of
local schools and some other parents.

It seems that in my area, the schools all have different policies about this (so if you have one child in a junior school that says
yes, and then the senior school says no, it's very frustrating for the parents involved.)

The point of the meeting was for the council to get ideas about setting down some rules that ALL the local schools must adhere
to in future.

Now, my husband works continental shifts. His work place NEVER shuts down, and is manned continuously 24/7 every day, every year.
In his shift pattern, every 10 weeks, he gets 18 days off. It's during those 18 days any holiday he might want MUST be taken.

So obviously, there have been times - quite a few actually - where we have had to take (first my eldst son and now my) youngest
son on holiday during term time. We did it last year - he was in school for the 1st week in Sept and then off for 2 weeks.

We'll be doing it this year too, because my husband starts his 18 days off on 28th August and the kids go back to school on
3rd Sept. we could have gone earlier this year - but my son had exams, so that was a no no.

We have never been refused permission to take either of the boys out of school - I was the only parent there who never has.
(I was nearly lynched by some of the other parents! )

It turns out that the *biggie* in the guidelines that all the schools had been referring to was that if it's the only time the parents
can take time off work then the school authorises the childs absence. I didn't know this beforehand. It's just that we have always
fell into that category when having to ask permission.

I know that in this area, that is staying on the policy that's being introduced.

So parents, take note. If you want to take your kids away during school time because of the cost of going in peak times, DON'T
be honest and give that as your reason, because you WILL be refused.
(It comes to something when you have to make a liar of yourself but what else can you do in those situations?)

*sniffs smelling salts and recovers*
When I was a school governor we were under a lot of pressure to lower absence figures, especially unauthorised. It's something Ofsted take into account when they assess the management teams, hence more schools cracking down on term time holidays.

*Puts smelling salts back in my pocket incase Auntie Pink packs them for her holidays*

Yeah, that's why that meeting was arranged. The local council and LEA wanted to get some things together
so everyone was singing from the same hymn sheet.

I thought it was decent of them to have parents there and listen to their views to be honest.
They could have just said "We are doing this...deal with it."

Hi

Many schools in Manchester are now refusing to authorise holidays in term time ,even if attendance has previously been good. The school can request the Local Authority to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice for 10 days unauthorised absence. The fine is £50 per child per parent,if paid within 28days, if not the fine goes to £100 per child per parent.
If you dont pay the fine, it will be processed for court action
I would suggest you try and put your case to the Head Teacher
I work for the LA and have had a number of discussions with parents on this subject, so I know it is a worry if you have booked before the school has made the decision to not allow the holidays.
M

Margaret, does your LEA allow for children whose parents holiday periods are dictated by their employers?

We're going on holiday on the 1st September and last week I put the holiday forms in. I'd already asked the head of year about the holiday and he said any holidays taken in the first 2 weeks of a new school year will automatically be unauthorised.

From what he was saying, it sounds like all LEA would do the same.

My kids don't go back to school until the 10th September so they'll actually only be off for 5 school days.

Incidentally, my eldest son's girlfriend's dad (do you follow that?) is the deputy headmaster and he said not to worry about it and just enjoy it.

If all else fails tell them it was an educational trip.

Enjoy your hols.

We had a letter stating that no holidays would be authorised in first half term from September and no time in May.

We had problems this year as my step son now lives in Linconshire and they had different holidays to us so not matter what we were going to have to take my son out of school . I stated this in letter and alsotold a couple of white lies about my husbands work and has he has his own business they ouldn't do nothing. It looks better if you can send letter on headed paper from work. We went end of May at the end of spring bank hols. We have 5 to pay for and prices can jump up by £2000 in holidays so I'm afraid I would take fine if I got one

Jo

Mrs chivas here. Some LEAs will not authorise any holiday time for pupils. I work in one such LEA. We mark pupils on the register as Holiday Not Agreed and the school pass on the necessary details to the LEA when requested. I have known parents get fined for taking children out of school. The target attendance for our LEA is 95% - below that and you are referred to the attendance officer (wag man) who has the power to fine. In all honesty the best time to take kids out of school is the last week as that is winding down time although in some subjects it is final assessment time which helps with setting for the following year. The worst time is September/October when things are just bedding in with new courses and teachers. Any absence during Y10-12 is going to cause problems in terms of subject knowledge or coursework completion. From experience I can honestly say that if kids have absence for any reason in term time 99% of the time they never make-up what they have missed - not good in what amounts to 5 terms in which the GCSE syllabi are delivered.

Have just handed in my form for next year's holiday, July 2009. My son (7) needs the very last week of the year off...you know that time they spend doing really important things like watching videos and taking games in to occupy them whilst the teachers take down this years work preparing for the following year. Have discovered that his school will authorise up to 10 days in any academic year providing that their attendance for the previous 12 months is no lower than 96% regardless of the reason for their absences. It doesn't take much thinking about but it doesn't take many sick days for it to drop below this threshold. I'm just waiting now to see what the Head's response is as my son has had quite a few illnesses this year unfortunately, all genuine and mostly picked up from the school in my opinion. The sickness bugs have been rife this year...just don't know what more you can do. I consider myself a responsible parent and will be very disappointed if it comes back unauthorised.

Maz666

Hi There I'm also going on holiday on the 08/09/08 which was the only time we can go , my youngest daughter starts secondary school on the 02/09/08 , to cut a long story short I asked the secondary school if they would authorize the days missed and they told me as she had not started yet to get her junior school to do it and yes they granted it, also my eldest daughter is at secondary school and hers got granted the same day , the only thing I'm starting to worry about now is I think I better remind the school about my youngest as I don't want anything to fall back on us, but in the past we have never had a problem getting permission from the school, I'm still going to enjoy our hols and you too enjoy yours

Mrs Chivas, just notice your post after I did mine. You say that the best time to take them out of school would be the last week of the school year which is the time I have asked for. Would this be looked upon more favourably then even though a pupil's attendance may be below the required threshold?

As already stated 10 days leave is at the say so of the head teacher, they don't have to let you have any!

If I am right and have been given the correct information the fine for Gloucestershire is £100.00 per child per adult in the family, so that could cost depending on the size of the family.

This is always a grey subject, i have up till now tagged my holidays on the end of a term so my children usually only miss the last 2 or 3 days of a term. But the head teacher still has their talk with me about doing it!!

I have now been good and booked next years holiday for august and actually got a great deal so i must have been lucky!

Good luck

My son has had 8 days off throughout the year and it dropped his attendance to below 94% so I had to wait till it got above that to put form in, so the sooner you put forms in a start of year the better.

Jo

I thought about not handing the form in until Sept, but was told they'd still look at the previous year's attendance anyway. Just hoping I catch the Head on a good day.

my daughter is in year 2 at school and we have used up our 10 days autherised absense without any hassle as her attendance for all year is very good.
But when we have taken her out for holidays, its always about 2 days before they are due to break up for the holidays, so I know she isn't missing much,
however, being honest, my school would DEFINATELY not autherise any absense at the start of a new school year, the september term, especially the begining, is a really important settling in period for the kids and teachers, so that would be a no no for me.
I totally understand your reasons for doing this, but I can also see the schools point in not autherising it .

Several years ago I took the trouble to inform the school that my eldest daughter would be missing the first week of term. I got a lot of hassle and threats but took her out anyway. When we returned we found out that the school had been closed for that week because of a problem with the heating system. Something that they hadn't bothered to check before the start of term! If I had rearranged my holidays, which would have cost over £400, I would have gone mental. Ever since then I don't bother. Now the kids have convenient colds or stomach bugs! If there is nothing in writing regarding a holiday, it is much harder for them to prove what you have done. The possible fine is far lower than the increase in the cost of a holiday.
And no, it doesn't worry me in the slightest that I might be adversely affecting the statistics of the school, which at the end of the day is all they are actually concerned about.

Slightly off topic but...... Many,many years ago, when I started at my new secondary school, I missed the first week of term in September due to a family holiday (nothing was said in those days). BUT I will never forget the fact that I was the 'new girl'. Everybody else knew, where to go, what to do, the rules of the school, which classes they were in, had made new friends, etc, etc, but me! It didn't help that I was extremely shy in those days!!
I would certainly think twice before booking a holiday that meant my child was put in that horrible situation.
Denny

Denny, I couldn't agree more. Louise

I have to say that I agree with you too Denny.

My daughter starts reception class in September which is when we would usually go on our annual holidays. I did think about going away anyway and her missing those first few days but when I really thought about it, I didnt think it would be fair on her as those are the days when new friendship circles will be formed and I think that its important for her to be part of that. I didnt want her to start late and be the new girl. We opted to go in June instead. As it has turned out, she doesnt actually start until the 8th September, so we may be able to get another week away before she starts.

As for future years, until she reaches an age when its important for her to be at school (say year 3 onwards) all of the time, I will be taking her out during term time and will face the consequences if and when. I dont think I would stretch to 10 days in one go, but I see no real harm with taking her out of school for 5 days.

Sarah