Other people are paying for it. Why should you abuse their generosity? It's just not right. If you are a Christian you should see that.

If the school is popular, your children could be denying others a place.

It costs £35k pa at Eton & Harrow.

Are your kids being privately tutored by Stephen Hawkin, Brian Cox, Dr Robert Winston, J.K.Rowling, Sir David Attenborough, Mervyn King and Usain Bolt?

If you took a little more notice of what happens on here, you'd realise that Dally's daughter needs a little more care than that offered by the likes of Eton & Harrow.

I'd also hazard a guess that although her residential care & education may cost £166k per year, it isn't costing him £166k per year personally.

the day before your holiday, phone the school to say they are ill and they will return as soon as possible when they are better. cheap holiday.sorted.

Screw the school. Your kids, your life do what you want. This is the UK not North Korea. Cornish's suggestion is good. Just say they are ill. Not that its any business of theirs really.

The school decides whether to authorise the absence or not; if it's logged as an unauthorised absence - basically the same as truancy - it's then up to the policy of the local authority what happens next. Schools have no powers to levy fines for non-attendance.

Just to be clear, the school has no power to stop parents removing their children. All it can do is decide whether to condone the removal or not. All studies carried out into the removal of children from lessons for holidays find that there is an impact not only on the children removed but also their classmates, and the disruption goes beyond the time they are actually absent.

As far as impact on SAT results are concerned, this is what happens when you rank schools by results and nothing else. The school has to protect itself against dropping down the rankings as this impacts pupil numbers and funding. This is a direct result of the policy of successive governments, so blaming the school is pointless and well wide of the mark.

Surely it wouldn't be in anyone's interest for any local authority to try and fine someone whose kids otherwise have an excellent attendance record have missed 4 days of school ? Clearly all the parents have to say is that the kids were ill and thats the end of it?

There are any number of studies that show a measurable impact even for relatively short absences. The disruption spreads into the weeks before and after the actual trip, and has a knock-on effect with the other children in the same class.


I can't speak for all schools, but when I was a governor of a primary school we displayed as much flexibility as possible depending on the exact circumstances of each case and authorised a number of absences every year. We wouldn't have authorised your absence as there are no exceptional circumstances.

Only if you keep them out of the sun.

Comments like that always make me laugh. School teachers / headmasters etc all seem to think they are some kind of omnipotent beings who have the power to run all aspects of your childrens lives.

Ummm... no. You aren't.






My advice to the OP would be take your kids on the 4 day holiday. Ring the school up before you go and say your kids won't be in for a few days as they are ill. If the school get y about it on their return politely tell them they were ill, they are better now and back all ready for school again. Job done.

Can you give me some examples of what constitutes 'exceptional circumstances'?

I absolutely loathe lying but I'm getting the feeling that I might have to act on your advice.

Another fine example of how "Christian values" can be bent when it suits the believer...

Absolutely. This whole procedure was introduced to try to punish irresponsible parents who dont care whether or not their kids ever attend school ...I don't have an issue with that at all.

However as I'm sure you don't fall into that category then take them on holiday and enjoy the money you have saved.

The schools only really care because it affects their performance figures. Stuff 'em!!

How about if a paedophile inadvertently abducts your child as he/she makes her way to class?

Mind you, the child would have possibly sinned in the eyes of [iyour[/i maker, so might have to think of another one?

No it wasn't. It was introduced precisely to prevent the situation kirkstaller is seeking to take advantage of. Too many middle-class parents pulling their kids out of school to take advantage of cheaper holidays.

You're not suggesting that you'd be prepared to bear false witness to save a few quid on your holidays are you?

Once again, the school has no power to 'run all aspects of your children's lives'. All it can do is authorise the absence or not. What happens after that is between the parents and the local authority, which in turn is governed by what policies the government of the day wants to implement.

Democracy's a bitch, eh?


If you seriously believe that any school would fall for that then you're deluded. Or that any child would be able to go along with the deception.

I don't understand the fuss anyway. If someone cares so little about their child's education that they'd rather save a few quid on a holiday they're presumably not bothered what the school thinks either?

I can give you an example of what doesn't - saving a few quid when the same holiday is available outside of term time.

Wrong. It was introduced because taking children out of class for a holiday disrupts the education of the entire class. There are separate mechanisms for dealing with serial truants.


So schools shouldn't care about their performance?

Cool.

just ring them up the day before and say there ill, thats what i did when i saved £895 for a trip to disneyland

As I said above, why bother? You clearly don't care about the impact on your kids so why worry about what the school says?

Can you give me an example of what does?

Ask jesus, he should be able to help you lie to your kids' school