Taking children out of school in term time?

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• 18-Jan-2010 13:23

  Taking children out of school in term time?

  Mrs Vineweevil Joined on 24-Jun-2004 United Kingdom Posts 3,313

  Contact Please don't shout at me that I shouldn't, my wee man will only be 4 1/2  so I don't think it will affect his GCSE results. I know every school is different, but just wondered if there might be any chance of this at all, or if most schools are totally strict.....?    O starts schools in September,  and we wanted to take him away in the last week of November.  I don't even find out which school he is going to for 2 weeks, so a lot of hypertheticals here.    It is sooo difficult for us to take hols during most of the main school hols as we are both accountants and our year ends are happily staqggered throughout the summer! Just wondered how anyone else has got on?

• 18-Jan-2010 13:35

  Re: Taking children out of school in term time?

  tahdah Joined on 29-Jul-2003 Twickers M'Dear Posts 9,548

  Contact TBH I can't see it creating too much of a disturbance. We have friends that do the same thing with their 5 year old. I suppose the best thing to do would be to ask a school that you're hoping they attend. They'll probably say it's in the childs best interests to not go, but I would have thought it should be fine. I found this online which may/may not help? http://www.derby.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/EB01536F-FD5B-4D13-8750-A3064BDFE4B5/0/LeaveofAbsencePolicySept09.doc …always got her eye on biscuits

• 18-Jan-2010 19:28

  Re: Taking children out of school in term time?

  jj74 Joined on 12-Jan-2010 Posts 155

  Contact Legally in England he doesn't have to attend school until after his 5th birthday anyway! I think schools get stricter the older the child is. If you have good reason (ie your employment) they are more likely to be ok about it . As he gets older you may need to stick to October half term or the Christmas holidays or Feb half term, but if you already booked your holiday before you even know where he is going to school they should be ok about it.

• 19-Jan-2010 22:42

  Re: Taking children out of school in term time?

  Blackkat Joined on 23-Mar-2009 Posts 3,401	Contact I don't see that it would be a problem, the government allows you to take 2 weeks as authorised absents as long as you let your school know in advance.

• 21-Jan-2010 7:05

  Re: Taking children out of school in term time?

  Sandie Joined on 25-Aug-2004 United Kingdom Posts 28,829	Contact Personally I have never taken my children out of school, but to be honest, I don't really think that until they get to 7 or 8 years, that taking them out of school for a week or so will do any harm to them whatsoever regarding their education. HTH

• 22-Jan-2010 16:39

  Re: Taking children out of school in term time?

  alison76 Joined on 17-Mar-2005 United Kingdom Posts 9,095

  Contact Blackkat: I don't see that it would be a problem, the government allows you to take 2 weeks as authorised absents as long as you let your school know in advance. No they don't. It's a common misconception. You are not allowed to take children out of school during term time, full stop. If you want to do this you have to get permission from the headteacher of the school - you don't just let the school know in advance. You have to ask. Of course most parents don't but it's what should happen.

• 22-Jan-2010 22:23

  Re: Taking children out of school in term time?

  Blackkat Joined on 23-Mar-2009 Posts 3,401

  Contact I phrased it wrong, you do need to ask permission but I was always told that children were allowed 2 weeks off. Anything else counts as unathorised absence. If you ask for permission and its under 2 weeks then, in my 7 years teaching experience in a range schools in different counties, then there's no reason permission shouldn't be granted. I obviously wrongly assumed that it must be a government policy.

• 23-Jan-2010 10:26

  Re: Taking children out of school in term time?

  Caroline T Joined on 02-Jun-2003 Yorkshire Posts 1,579

  Contact The Authorised/unauthorised bit depends on their age, for example at our school no holiday is authorised for Year 10 or 11 but ten days is for Year 7, 8 and 9.  Mind you, unless there is a history of non attendance, it won't make a jot of difference to most parents because no action will be taken by the LEA. Even if I wasn't a teacher and had any choice I wouldn't take the kids out of school, I think school holiday holidays are one of the perils of having kids ! And I always wonder what parents do with their kids for all of the six weeks in the summer when two of them aren't used for the family holiday!

• 05-Mar-2010 14:58

  Re: Taking children out of school in term time?

  LadyLeah Joined on 04-Feb-2002 Shropshire Posts 6,203	Contact The school Ethan attends lets you take them out for 10 working days per school year, so we are going away for 2 weeks in May, I just need to write a nice letter to the school... He is in Reception at the moment but I think in certain Years they don't let you take that much time.   Ethan - 26.05.2005 Rhys - 28.10.2008