Taking children out of school

[Mark E. Spliff]

I didn't get fined, but I did get a fairly long prison sentence and put on a register.  I'm assuming they'd have been less strict if I'd known the kids?

(Your fault: if you didn't let obvious spammers/scammers resurrect threads like this unchallenged, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do a shit joke.)

[danssol]

No fine yet and I did write to the school. 

[Crazyfool01]

A build up to spam … nice work normally it just gets dumped 

[blutarsky]

Absolute result for school leavers this year - the provisional GCSE exam timetable has just been released and the final GCSE exam is on Glasto Wednesday. There are hospitality and catering, and Polish exams on the 21st, so any 16-year-olds wanting to come are pretty much in the clear. 

[FosterWest]

I think it's better to be honest and explain the situation

[Stretlow]

Mine went sick last year. Youngest was on the BBC at Olivia Rodrigo plain as day. Teacher spotted it and messaged me.

 

Never heard anything since ...

[Ayrshire Chris]

6 minutes ago, Stretlow said:

Mine went sick last year. Youngest was on the BBC at Olivia Rodrigo plain as day. Teacher spotted it and messaged me.

 

Never heard anything since ...

Olivia Rodrigo?  Good 4 U 😉
 

[Yeo-vile idiot]

We just wrote ‘going to Glastonbury:-) ’ in the reason box they know we go every year so kinda expect it now 

[mario man]

I'm just drafting an email to my kids school to request the time off for my daughter. This thread has been really useful, thanks for all the input 👍

I've taken the stance of letting them know what I'm intending to do in a polite email, well in advance. I've made it clear this will be the only time I'm going to take her whilst she is school age (she is Year 7 so the last year I can get her in on my ticket anyway). However the school will be getting the same/similar email in a couple of years time for my other 2 kids! (If the ticket gods are kind to me!)

Gotta say after 14 glasto's only having to look after myself its going to be a different experience this year!  However 2 weeks ago I didn't even have a ticket, so just to be back on that hallowed ground and showing her around the place is going to be so cool - I really can't wait. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by mario man

[Field Commander Jefferson]

in 4 days at the festival, kids would probably grow more as people than they would in a whole school year

[Jack.194]

I’m a teacher in a school, and I think it depends on the school as to what approach to take, some it’ll be best to just say they’re sick, some would appreciate being told. Almost none will care a massive amount I’m sure.

[sunnyshoes]

My son's time off in Y6 wasn't authorised but I rang to say we were going anyway and asked about the likelihood of a fine. They said it was very unlikely as he has good attendance for the rest of the year. I think there's a policy in our area to report unauthorised absences to the council but I'm presuming mainly if it was a regular thing. My son will learn a lot more about life at the festival than 4 days practising the end of year play that's for sure. 

[Welshinexile]

I’m trying to decide if to go sickie or notify the school properly. My daughter is year 6 so the head won’t care but my year 10, 15 year old is more tricky! Think I am going to go all out on a letter to the head even though I know he won’t authorise it. 

[Mich1268]

23 minutes ago, Welshinexile said:

I’m trying to decide if to go sickie or notify the school properly. My daughter is year 6 so the head won’t care but my year 10, 15 year old is more tricky! Think I am going to go all out on a letter to the head even though I know he won’t authorise it. 

Oh well, maybe a fine. If they have reasonable attendance. What can they do

[gfa]

Obviously a fine isn't ideal but my thinking is for a child getting in for free anyway its £60 for their ticket if you pay within 21 days.

Nobody would even bat an eyelid if that was the price of a child's ticket for glasto

Not sure if thats per day but you could probably get at least some of it? For my county you need 7.5 days of unauthorised absence to even get a fine to begin with

[nikkic]

Pay the fine. 

You’ll build core memories you’ll all talk about for years.

Not sure you can put a price on that, but if you could it’s be more than £60!

[moogdroog]

I bit the bullet and emailed to request leave yesterday, prompted by school announcing there would (for the first time ever) be formal Yr 9 exams on 20/21/22. I hoped to get ahead of the curve, so didn't mention that... Had a reply back 5 mins later 'authorised, have a wonderful time' 😊 

Kids are Yr 7 and 9 - first G for them.

[goonerben]

15 hours ago, mario man said:

I'm just drafting an email to my kids school to request the time off for my daughter. This thread has been really useful, thanks for all the input 👍

I've taken the stance of letting them know what I'm intending to do in a polite email, well in advance. I've made it clear this will be the only time I'm going to take her whilst she is school age (she is Year 7 so the last year I can get her in on my ticket anyway). However the school will be getting the same/similar email in a couple of years time for my other 2 kids! (If the ticket gods are kind to me!)

Gotta say after 14 glasto's only having to look after myself its going to be a different experience this year!  However 2 weeks ago I didn't even have a ticket, so just to be back on that hallowed ground and showing her around the place is going to be so cool - I really can't wait. 

Last year, we went for this approach - wanted to be really upfront and honest, with plenty of notice (I think I sent the email right after May half term). 

For my secondary-age daughter, we were also really clear that we'd be on her case with homework etc in the runup, so she'd be going off with no work outstanding - and would then have her on catchup afterwards.  But in reality she had a decent attendance record all year, missed 2 days (we headed to Glasto after school on Wednesday), close to the end of term, where there wasn't a whole lot of core work going on anyway.  

Both schools replied and said that the absence would be "unauthorised" - but neither did anything beyond that.

[sprocketrocket]

Chat GPT just wrote this for me, I'm going to tweak it, but its alright...

Dear [School Name],

I am writing to request some time off for my child, [Child's Name], to attend the Glastonbury Festival. As a family, we have been planning to attend the festival for months, and it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us.

We understand the importance of education and do not take this decision lightly. However, we believe that attending the Glastonbury Festival will provide a unique learning experience for our child. The festival offers a diverse range of music, art, and cultural activities that will expose our child to different forms of expression and creativity.

We assure you that we will make every effort to ensure that our child keeps up with any missed school work and completes any assignments in a timely manner. We also understand that attendance and punctuality are essential to our child's education and will work with the school to minimize any disruption to their learning.

We kindly request that you consider approving this request and granting [Child's Name] time off to attend the Glastonbury Festival. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to your response.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

 

[sprocketrocket]

We've taken our kids out of primary school for it in the past, our head teacher was pretty cool about it and authorised 2 of the 4 days we requested, so it didn't look too bad on paper. 

My eldest started secondary this year, so it might be his last for a while because an extra £300+ next year is a bit much (we'll see come October 😄)

[Bike_Like_A_Mum]

Can't remember if I've written in this thread or not, but I requested the leave for my two (Y2 & Y3) early doors back November. We had a letter to say that it would go down as unauthorised but that there wouldn't be a fine. Fine by us 🤷🏼‍♀️

[wosman]

Seems like we're the only unlucky ones so far.  Were honest last year and asked for 5 days (we're in the North so can't do any less time if you want to enjoy the full festival) and got fined £120 (£60 per parent)

Taking a different approach this year....

 

[PassingCloud]

Just tell them the truth and leave it at that. Don’t ask for their blessing because they can’t endorse it. 
Took my son out and didn’t hear diddly-squat. Nothing. Nada. 
Excellent experience for kids, just be prepared for them to be exhausted! Enjoy. 

[gorfield]

I am taking a 5 and 10 year old.. the 10 year old is in her final year will have done her sats and has had about 4 days off in her whole time at school. She wont be doing much in that last term of primary school anyway so this is probably our last chance to take them as I probably wouldn't take her out of high school.

I have told the school - they couldn't respond officially saying its ok but the few teachers that I have seen after sending the notification have said - dont blame you and have a great time but I cant quote that on record!

This is what I e mailed to their teachers;

"Just to let you know that we will be taking G and H out of school for Glastonbury this year (21^st – 26^th June). We know it won’t be approved by school but we do believe it is a very worthwhile and educational experience for them and we would prefer to take G out now rather than when she is at high school. G will miss her last school trip but we will take her to the museum beforehand so she can join in with any work afterwards.  We have never taken the children out of school for a holiday but Glastonbury is more than that, it is an amazing opportunity for children and so much more than what is seen on the television. It is a cultural event where they will learn not only about music but also environmental and social issues, crafts, circus skills and will build up lots of resilience if it’s a muddy one! It will be a character building experience for them and we will do what we can to help them catch up with anything they miss."

[roberttracy]

On 4/15/2022 at 11:32 AM, Melm00 said:

I am taking my 7&9 year old children to Glastonbury this year. This will be their third Glastonbury but they weren't at school the last time they went. We're taking them on the Wednesday so they'll be missing three days of school. I don't want them to lie or to feel they can't talk about it with their friends so we're going to be honest with the school. How would you play it? Just ring up on the day & say they're not going to be in or request authorised leave in advance & if it is not granted go anyway (we will be going anyway!). Has anyone experience of this please? They've never had anything other than time off for sickness & even that hardly ever. Will we get fined do you think? Massive thanks. 


By the way, my sister is now studying at a medical college and they have such a big workload this year that she does not know if she can go to the festival. She uses the site https://essays.edubirdie.com/nursing-assignment-help, where the authors provide her with excellent finished works on the topic of nursing. I hope with their help she will close all the items on time and will be able to go to the festival with us.

From the experience of my sister, who took children 9 and 7 years old, I can say that everything went well and that she had agreed with the school about the trip in advance.