Fined for taking ny children on holiday !!

[alison06]

I know I'm preaching to the converted here but I am so outraged I just have to get it off my chest !

I have 4 children, The 16 year old in 6th form, 14 year old in year 9 at school, 12 year old and 4 year old home ed. The 2 boys at school dont have great attendance ( about 80% ) due to a constant barrage of migraines, head aches, stomach aches etc but althought they are clearly less than happy with school they are so brainwashed by the system that try as I may I cant get them to be home ed.

I am a single parent and dont have a large income so I booked a half price hol in Wales for May this year. Big mistake ! I called school to ask about exam dates etc to be told by the head of 6th form that there are exams in May and June and my son would absolutely not be able to go even though she didnt know when his exams are because it would not put him in the right frame of mind to do well in his exams and that obviously her priority is that he achieves the best mark possible! I called the examinations officer who told me he had no exams that week, only 2 the week after and the rest were not until the end of June. Armed with this info I called back to tell the head of 6th form that even if the absence was not authorised he would still be going on the only family hol I would be able to afford this year. My son has come home today telling me that he will be staying at his nanna's instead of coming on hols with us as he has now been told that if he does not attend school that week he will be kicked out of 6th form !!! He is now too frightened to take the risk and join us.

Today I was left a message on my answer phone about my year 9 son going something like this :

" We work on a points system, because its May that accrues 2 points, because his attendance is extremely low at 80% thats another 4 points, because he is in year 9 and has no exams that is just one point which totals 7 points. I'm sorry but with any pupil with 7 points or more we will not authorise any absence so he will not be able to go. I don't know if you still want to go ahead with this holiday but could you call me to let me know. But I have to warn you that we will not authorise the absence anyway "

I called the attendance officer back and I told her that J would be going on our only family holiday this year anyway. She was very nice about it and marked down on her calendar all the days he would not be there and said she would send the paper work out to me in the post for me to have a look at ?? and that she has to warn me that as it is unauthorised absence I will be fined !! Not wanting to sound put off by this threat I just said ok thanks.

As the night has gone on I am just getting more and more annoyed ! How outragious that they

1) think they can tell me when I can take my children on holiday

2) they have told me that my boys can not go on our family holiday that I had to struggle to give them, and have even threateded my eldest with not being able to continue his A levels

3) They are fining me for trying to do the best by my children by giving them some fun time, some quality time for my family to strengthen bonds, getting them out to see the wider world outside of school and penalising me for not being able to afford to go in school holiday time.

Thank goodness that in 2 years time it will be the end of my dealings with the control and manipulation of the school system forever !!! They know where they can stick their fine

[Sheila Struthers]

Bstrds

[Nina]

My thoughts exactly Sheila!
This really gets my blood boiling, when my ds1 had just started P2 we booked a weeks holiday for the September weekend so in all he would miss 3.5 days not a big deal I thought, got this horrible letter saying although they would try their best to get him to catch up he may be put into lower groups??? How much would he miss in 3.5 days? A few weeks after the holiday he said he was unhappy and had stood at the friendship stop but no one came to play with him. I saw this for myself when I was picking up ds2 from nursery, it was so upsetting to see, I went over and had a few words with the so called playground supervisor and then with the teacher who shouted that if I hadn't been so inconsiderate in taking my son out of school for holidays he wouldn't be so unhappy!
I reminded her that he had just had 7 weeks holiday and started back with no problems that maybe the problem was her! To which she said that I had no right taking him out during term time and that it was my selfishness that had led to my son being so unsettled. She actually reduced me to tears in the playground, I believed her that it was my fault it was terrible. When I told DH he hit the roof and phoned the school but of course the answer back was the bottom line is don't take your children on holiday during term time.... Hence slow our journey began into home learning and all the advantages that go with it, just wished we had taken the leap before they started school!

[Nina]

BTW Alison meant to say stick to your guns! I'd tell the school to get stuffed too!!! I think it's appalling to fine parents, the governments need to give the travel industry a good kick up the behind with what they charge during school holidays, I understand that they make more money during that season compared to any other time but some places charge over triple compared to out of season time, so a lot of families find it extremely difficult to come up with that sort of money. Times are hard enough just now for everyone, fines are just out of order!

[Diane]

Fascists.

Diane
http://www.threedegreesoffreedom.blogspot.com