Would you take your child out of school during term time even if you knew you’d be fined?
That’s what we’ve done – and we’ll be issued with a fixed penalty notice for doing so.
If you’re unfamiliar with the current system it used to be the case that head teachers had the discretion to award pupils up to 10 days ‘holiday’ during term time, a policy that was scrapped in 2013.
Instead any absence longer than three consecutive days that isnβt due to illness must be authorised by the school, and authorisation will only be granted in ‘exceptional circumstances’.
These exceptional circumstances seem to depend on where you live: some local education authorities appear to turn a blind eye to trips to Disneyland and sporting events while others refuse to grant the children of members of the Armed Forces holiday if their parents happen to get leave during term time.
Unfortunately our local education authority falls into the latter category, and Misery Guts and I will be slapped with a Β£60 fine for taking BB out of school during term time. Each. And we’re not even going on holiday.
Is the council right to fine me for taking my child out of school?
Of course we could have said nothing and called her in sick every day, but she’s at a Catholic school and that would hardly be in the spirit of things, plus I know BB will proudly tell her teacher and friends exactly where she’s been. And proud she should be too.
Her daddy is running the Marathon Des Cote, a 186-mile foot race along the Pembrokeshire coast to raise money for people with type 1 diabetes, an event which happens to take place during Diabetes Awareness Week. The charities he’s running for include T1 International, which saves the lives of type 1 diabetics in parts of the world with no access to insulin. To put it in context, the life expectancy for a baby with type 1 diabetes in some parts of Africa is less than eight months.
It’s a cause very close to our hearts. Misery Guts was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 12, meaning his pancreas produces no insulin to turn his food into energy and he must inject it instead.
The ramifications are huge β he injects insulin at least five times a day and must test his blood sugar levels up to 15 times a day just to keep his body running as it should. Diabetes governs pretty much everything he does: what he eats and when, what he drinks and when, how he sleeps and how he feels – taking a huge toll on his physical and mental health and affecting every member of our little family in one way or another every single day (Iβve written more about what itβs like for us as a family living with type 1 diabetes in my post Type 1 diabetes and us).
It’s not his fault: type 1 diabetes is a disease for which they don’t really know the cause, and there’s currently no cure either. But with more funding, research and support, there could well be a cure for type 1 diabetics across the world in our lifetime.
In the meantime, Misery Guts needs me and a team of supporters at check points along the route of the Marathon Des Cote with medicine and supplies as it’s simply not possible for him to carry everything he needs for the duration of the race (instructions for the uninitiated members of our support crew include ‘if I’m unconscious or fitting inject me with glucagon and call an ambulance’). This isn’t a fun run, it’s a potentially life or death situation.
So we’ll be taking BB out of school for four days so that I can be there to do the necessary. He’ll be setting off at 4am every morning for three days and running up to 67 miles a day – a challenge to test the endurance of the most able-bodied Olympian, never mind a 40-year-old dad of three with a chronic disease.
Of course I understand there need to be rules when it comes to term time ‘holidays’ and indeed I think there should be, but the system seems to be an arbitrary one which varies depending on where you live. It does seem unfair that some parents can go to Disneyland for two weeks without being charged a penny yet we’re absent for four days helping a daddy whoβs trying to change lives and will be fined Β£120 for doing so.
Is the council right to fine me for taking my child out of school? On paper, yes: there’s no family emergency and no-one’s died (or not yet anyway β Iβm hoping the race doesnβt finish Misery Guts off!) so our trip doesn’t constitute βexceptional circumstancesβ.
But do I think the council is right to fine me for taking my child out of school? No. I think the 10-discretionary-days-a-year policy was a much better one, one that recognises life happens outside of the school holidays.
The local education authority might not deem our trip ‘exceptional circumstances’, but it’s pretty exceptional to us. And it’s a lesson I know will last BB a lifetime.
What do you think? Is the council right to fine me for taking my child out of school? Would you take your child out of school during term time even if you knew you’d be fined? Have you done it before? Or do you think taking kids out of school during term time is a big no no? I’d love to know what you think!
If youβd like to know more about Misery Gutsβs mission to run the Marathon Des Cote (a βtrainingβ run for his ultimate goal: the 150-mile Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert in 2019) heβs blogging about it over at Diabetic Dad Runs. And if youβd like to donate or find out more about the charities he’s supporting you can visit his JustGiving page here.
Donβt get me started on this one!!
As a semi retired grandparent of 4 we also have this dilemma
This is nothing more than a tick box exercise aimed at making sure attendance figures are kept high.
Fine or no fine, we make sure our 5 year old grandaughter has a period during the holiday where she does some school work because we take her reading books etc with us.
She also learns valuable lessons, ( maybe a sentence in a foreign language, or on our latest holiday she helped me save the life of a Housemartin chick that had fallen from the nest and couldnβt fly, by help guarding from predatory animals while we taught it to fly) while away, and will write a short story for her teacher and classmates telling of what she has learned while away.
Iβm 64 and I learned more life skill from the moment I left school than ever I did in it, Iβve been married for 42 years, helped raise two children who have their own businesses, built my own house, had my own business, and had 47 years of continuous employment, without a single qualification.
An absolute joke is what this is!!!
They awarded exceptional circumstances for me when I asked, for much less of a reason and we were able to go away. I would first ask them and then if they didn’t allow it I would take them out of school anyway, we know the consequences and we know they have a right to do so. We make that choice (whether we like it or not). In holiday circumstances, I would weight up if it was cheaper to pay the Β£60 per child fine or to have to pay the bumped up holiday prices for taking them away in the summer holidays .
It’s a real tough call isn’t it. There’s kids who are off sick alot of the time for the sake of it, but then there are circumstances like this where its’ perfectly justified. We’d love to take the kids skiing and half term would be mega expensive but it’d be a great experience for them.
On paper the council are right but the school should justify this to the council and you shouldn’t be fined in my opinion.
Have a fab time and best of luck to misery guts!! xx
My son and his wife both work in entertainment bon holiday Parks, so they have to take their own holidays during term time when the work place is quieter, the children’s school are aware of this so they don’t have a problem, also they live in Scotland were the rule is more brelaxed, I always took mine out of school for holidays because we couldn’t afford to go during the school holidays #familyfun@_karendennis
The old policy was better as it allowed schools to take into account parent’s circumstances, the reason for the request and child’s general attendance record etc. There are times when it should be a flat no – run up to exams etc- but all the other times you can usually make up the work as things get covered again.
The new system seems designed to create statistics that help the school maintain a reasonable Ofstead rating.
What an amazing thing to do – good luck to Misery Guts – and have a great time. You’re right, she’ll remember this forever π
It is too strict. It’s like they don’t take into consideration certain family circumstances. And like Β£60 per day is a lot. #FamilyFunLinky
I think its garbage. last year I took ours out of school for a trip to Disney and wrote about how I didn’t care about what the school had to say. I’m as big a believer in education as everyone else, but also a believer in cheaper prices and shorter lines. I think you’re excuse is a much better one that mine was! Best of luck to the hubby #familyfun
I definitely think this is too strict! I believe 5 discretionary days could be a good compromise. I took our 3 yr old out of school nursery for 5 days and although heβs not even legally bound to attend school yet, we still got a stern letter advising it was an unauthorised absence and that they would advise if he dropped below 95% attendance. We didnβt get fined thankfully – probably due to his age. I donβt agree with taking kids out of school for no reason or during key times like exams etc, but the prices of holidays are a joke during school holiday time. The equivalent holiday weβve just been on would have cost twice as much during school holidays. I think parents should be allowed to decide on a few days off school during the year.
This is ridiculous! Parents should be able to make the call, especially for such a good cause, creating teachable moments all over the place that wouldn’t happen in a school setting. Rock on Papa and all feel good! #dreamteam xoxo
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one reason why people chose to home ed #FamilyFunLinky
I think the fines are now being used as a money making exercise. When you consider how schools will close at the drop if a hat for teacher strikes and the weather.
#ablogginggoodtime
I 100% believe the old system was better. We have taken our son out of school for a holiday on two previous occasions and we were granted it on the grounds of exceptional circumstances due to the nature of my husbands job (he’s in the Merchant Navy and usually misses the school holidays). But the last time the letter we received kind of made it clear it wouldn’t be accepted in the future. I definitely think yours qualifies as exceptional circumstance. It’s crazy that they have a rule that puts you at the mercy of the headteacher, it should be the same rule for everyone and the only way to do that is to go back to the 10 day rule. Good luck to Misery Guts, what an incredible achievement it will be.
Thank you for joining the #FamilyFunLinky x
don’t get me started on this one, stopping kids coming out of school is hurting our business a lot. Of course they should be allowed out to be there for their Daddy. I must say our local schools are very relaxed, we just ring the kids in sick.
such an emotive topic I forgot to say stopping by from #KCACOLS
This is absolute CRAP!!!! I don’t think it’s right to fine a family for even ONE DAY of missed class. It is practically forcing parents to teach kids to lie about what their plans are. I think the 10 days per school year is a much better policy to have. It allows the family to be able to maneuver without feeling like they are being squeezed to death by the government. #DreamTeam
Usually, I’d say that I don’t agree with taking children out of school during term time. While I know they learn a lot out of school too, they still have to catch up with work and the teachers do too, which I think is unfair. But there should definitely be some discretion here. The problem is that where do you draw the line and what’s defined as ‘exceptional’?! Hope Misery Guts does ok! #kcacols
I thnk as long as your not taking them out at exam time (I mean who would do that!) Having a holiday during term time is not going to harm a childs education. All these rules are a bit overkill. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time
I can see both sides. As a parent I say no, the fines are not fair especially when some enforce it and some donβt, and of course often the activity will involve a certain level of life learning and experience over and above what school offers.
As a teacher who has worked in a school before the fines came into place I can tell you that many, many families really took the mickey with it and it has a huge knock on effect not just on that one childβs education but on the rest of the class and the teacher.
I still had to get all the children to the same minimum level of learning by the end of the term – no matter what their starting point. With performance related pay now may force for teachers that can mean that their salary is affected if children donβt progress as they should….so when I child takes time away and misses a carefully planned series of lessons, that child then needs to be given extra support and 1:1 time to get them back up to speed…time that should be spent elsewhere with the whole class rather than just one child who took time out. It always has an impact somewhere and often puts a lot of extra pressure on the staff.
I do think there should be room for a case by case basis though and some discretion – but at the same time the parents should also do what they can to make sure children are up to speed on things they have missed, eg. Obtaining planning from the teacher for their time away.
#ablogginggoodtime
I think that the policy to fine parents who take their children out of school is valid HOWEVER I feel like their are certain situations whereby that fine would be wavered if it was an enhancing and educational experience. I believe that was your husband is doing is admirable and inspiring therefore, of course your daughter should be there to experience it. It’s something she can’t learn in school. You could argue that every holiday is educational as its other countries and cultures but there is a difference between booking a holiday because it’s cheaper and because there is, for example, a family wedding/event. I am a teacher and I feel there has to be some wiggle room. My son starts school in September so I will be on the other end of the situation and I firmly believe that I will not take him out of school unless it is absolutely necessary. #KCACOLS
Back from #KCACOLS and I still think you should have the right to do what you like! xoxo
It seems our local council os of the former and turns a blind eye. I have only taken my daughter out once for a term time holiday and didn’t receive a fine. in fact non of our kids did across 3 schools in the same local area, 2 primary 1 secondary. It seems to be looked at on an overall attendance figure. I absolutely 100% disagree with the fines and think there should be some exceptions especially for things like this there should not be a one rule fits all for things like this #kcacols
Weβre quite lucky with our school as we are a forces family and they couldnβt be better with allowing holiday for pre deployment leave. Ultimately the school decides if something comes under exceptional circumstances or not and if not then the council do the fines. Trouble is that there are many parents who donβt care if their children go to school. I do agree that a degree of common sense needs to be employed. If a child has 99% attendance what will a day off hurt? #kcacols
I think it’s right to encourage good attendance in schools but it’s a shame that different schools in different areas apply the rules differently. Ours didn’t fine us when we took the kids out of school during term time for family/cultural reasons earlier this year – it helped that they had only missed one day between the three of them the previous year – but we would have accepted the fines anyway without dispute.
It’s also a shame that they don’t have greater latitude for ‘exceptional circumstances. I completely get that they can’t make exceptions for everything and have to draw the line somewhere but I wish more schools would weigh up the benefits of instances such as yours.
I don’t have a problem with fining parents who take their kids out of school just to go on a cheaper holiday, even though I appreciate that there is a huge saving for doing so. I wonder how people would feel if teachers who have kids took holidays during term-time to save themselves money, especially given that teaching is hardly a highly paid profession. #KCACOLS
It’s tough, I think there should be more discretion than there is. Good luck to you all! #KCACOLS
I’m just in awe of what your husband achieved (and am assuming given the date of this post and the fact I’ve just read your latest Jan ’19 post) that he’s very much still here thank goodness. I shall go check out your social media posts about the run as it’s just fascinating and awe-inspiring.
The fine thing however just made my blood boil. I DO understand the comment from Arthurwears as teachers do have impossible targets in the UK (sorry to say this but I’m SO glad my kids are being educated in a different country) BUT as you so rightly point out, ‘life happens outside of school holidays’. There has to be leniency or a standard nationwide approach to school absence. And as others have said, education is NOT just about sitting at a desk cramming your head with facts for hours every day. There is so much to learn about life from experiences outside school.
I could go on and on but I won’t! Thanks for a good read.