Holiday ruined

[hau kola]

We have a break to Centerparcs(sp) booked 29 oct.When it was booked by a friend,she got the dates wrong(shouldve been half term).My daughter would miss 4 school days.We had to fill in a form for permission for her to miss school and we`ve had a letter this morning saying they will not authourise it.Im going to ring them first thing monday,any ideas about the best way to approach this?

[Louisa 69]

I would explain the situation about the mix up , apologise for it . Also state that your not in the habit of taking her out of school for holidays . Explain that it's been booked and paid for and that you stand to loose money if you pull out now. Also just for good measure ask if they would be willing to give her extra homework to help her catch up on the 4 days that she missed. Good luck , i'll keep my fingers crossed.

[hau kola]

Thanks Louisa,yes,ive thought about the homework thing.Im really annoyed because shes working really hard at school and we havent taken her out for a holiday before.

[Louisa 69]

It would be a shame if she had to loose out on her holiday especially if she's working hard at school. Let me know how it goes.

[hau kola]

Will do.

[mrs_overall]

It's a fact that schools are clamping down on children being taken out of school in term time. Where I live, a couple of families have been issued with �50 fixed penalty notices for doing just this.
If the school won't relent when you ring them, you could do what a friend of mine did. The school refused her application so she took her child to the GP's with a bogus illness and got a sick note for the child. I know this is a bit underhand but I can't think of any other way around it.
Good luck.

[hau kola]

Hi Invisible,shes just started high school.They are taking into account her attendance at middle school which was 94%.They say it has to be 96%.
I dont want to take her without authourisation,but what would happen if i did?

[hau kola]

Thanks mrs O,it crossed my mind briefly to feign illness but im to honest.And it would be to obvious if we did it now.No,couldnt do it.

[hau kola]

Oh bum.Looks like i`ll be losing a lot of money then.

[hau kola]

Well.....it was my fault really.I work at a private school and we get 2 weeks half term in Oct.I gave her my dates rather than my daughters.

[mrs_overall]

Just a thought. I'd ring your local education department or the education welfare officer/education social worker who covers your area. Reading the replies on here, there seems to be discrepancies on the attendance percentages. Your LEA should clarify this.
Where I live, the attendance percentage cut off point for allowing holidays is 90%. This purely for the CURRENT year, and the previous years attendance is not taken into account, unless it's spectacularly low. Again, you should be able to clarify this.

[hau kola]

Dunno,but i have lunch with the lady in charge of attndance/absentees so i`m going to ring her before i ring my daughters school,she might be able to give me some pointers.

[meltoadhall]

take her anyway its only 4 days

[hau kola]

I might just do that Legend.lol
Hmm..i`ll see what they say on monday,then decide.You never know,they might take pity on me.