Unauthorised Absence - Primary School

[Baby_Sham]

Hi. I have a question that I need quickly answered, so would be very grateful to anyone that can help - teachers, Education workers etc.

If a child misses morning registration on two occasions (no point in explaining the reason as it makes no difference) does that go down as two marks of unauthorised absences or do they count each morning misses as a half day so it equates to one unauthorsied absence?

Thanks.

[Baby_Sham]

Thank you. That's what I thought and I do now remember the EWO said to me it had to be 10.
That's made me feel much better, and I won't be worrying about it all weekend now. I will still phone him on Monday morning to double check, but I'm pretty sure I've got that correct now.

Thanks very much to all that helped.

[2sp_]

I didn't mean to imply that this was a trivial matter, I realise that this is a huge deal for you and I just didn't want you to worry about it too much before Monday.

I hope all goes well, let us know how you get on.

[sherrardk]

Late is not absent so you must challenge this. In some schools the person in charge of who to fine (or not) can be quite jobs worthy and enjoy the power trip of fining parents. Call their bluff and don't put up with their nonsense. If you do get fined though, pay it within the time limit as it can rise quite extortionately.

[Kassee]

It is easier to write a sick note and phone in sick, rather than ask for time off which the school can refuse.
This happened to me last year, I asked for two days leave for holiday as we were going away Friday to Monday and it was our annual holiday. This was refused by the headmistress, and I had to take it as unauthorised leave. In the same class, another child went off to South Africa on holiday for two and a half weeks and that was authorised.
I would never again ask for any leave, from now on my child is SICK.

[Peter Pedant]

Have they stopped chaining kids to their desks ?

Fifties I remember the nuns giving my sister and myself hell for the bus being late. It sort of shapes your life view of arbitrary authority.

[coccinelle]

Not sure if this would help; in France you are not married in a church you are only blessed, the marriage ceremony is at the Mairie. It would be quite easy to get a letter from the Mairie stating that such and such were married on that day. This would cover you for the 3 days...

[EvianBaby]

Is she going to get refused jobs in the future when they see she had a bunch of absences from school 20 years ago? Nah. Don't worry about it.

[Baby_Sham]

Thanks for the further answers. I spent the majority of the evening reading the school policy documents and also the Education Act 1996, where I can see no mention whatsoever of the whole '5 unauthorised absence' bit she has quoted.
The school have an attendance policy document and an attendance guidelines policy on their website. I have read both, and they both state that the council may issue fines for any child who has accumulated more than 10 unauthorised sessions. It then states that a day is made up of two sessions, which means I was correct in thinking those two late mornings would account for 2 sessions, as opposed to 2 days.

I appreciate all your help. I really was panicking about the whole thing, but feel pretty sure now that I haven't done anything to warrant it being passed on for a fine.

Many thanks.

[joko]

how much is the fine?

[Baby_Sham]

The fine is £60 per adult per child.

It's not even about the money. I don't care if I have to pay it and it's been given out correctly, but I now know it hasn't..

I have just got off the phone with the Education Welfare Office who was VERY nice and helpful.
He said he would look into it and would call me back - which he did.
The letter I received from the headteacher states that she has "informed the Education Welfare Office" of my child's absences and "they may issue a fine".
Well, I have just spoken to him and he has informed me not only has he not received anything from the school but also that a child needs to miss TEN sessions (so 5 full days) for it to be passed to them. Something which he says the headteacher "will be aware of".
I had a really good chat with him and he has asked me to forward a copy of the letter to him as he would like to see it.

I am also meeting with a couple of Mum's from the school this afternoon who have had similar problems.