On a positive note, Jen and I had a meeting with some of the administration team at Belper School today regarding absence during school terms and found the staff involved and the school policy (currently being formed) to be very reasonable. It was great to see that, whilst they have to meet government requirements, theyre dedicated to the children and families and appear not to be getting caught up in over-zealous interpretation of legislation as some other schools have been - fining parent in what appear to be crazy circumstances. The main problem seems to be the woolliness of the exceptional circumstances that make absence during school time acceptable. This phrase can be interpreted as many different ways as there are schools! The good news for families of Belper School is that they appear to be taking a very fair approach. Hence in our case (a one-off chance to visit Moscow for the wedding of a close friend), whilst they have not authorised the absence in order to protect themselves from potentially unfavourable government audit issues, we will not be fined for taking the kids out. Having spoken with a couple of the Belper staff at some length on this topic, Im just pleased to discover that our kids school is applying healthy common sense and careful consideration, even if its not going to be the same story for all... My recommendation - meet with your school on individual matters. From what I can see, its still the schools final decision! See Holidays in term time on this page: https://gov.uk/school-attendance-absence/overview
Posted on: Mon, 03 Mar 2014 23:37:04 +0000
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