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School Absence

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:28 pm
by toesxed
My child has been confirmed for a job (1 day) and the Headteacher is refusing to allow time off school saying "it would be too early in the term to have any absence" - it would be several days into the new term. It is supposedly not in our "child's educational interest." (although attendance is excellent and considered an able child.) Can anyone help at all? I have a heartbroken child who is inconsolable who has attended countless auditions before finally getting some success. We are desperate.
Thank you xx

Re: School Absence

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 4:57 pm
by ScoobyDoo
I always say I will take the work with me and arrange with the class teacher to pick it up the night before, I would try the approach of saying you are happy to do this, if they say no, ask what you can do to make this happen and stress how important this is for your DC's future as this is what he/she wants to do in the future. I would just keep the pressure on, but keep it nice! The minute you get angry you have lost that particular battle! But I have to say it is really poor show on the school's behalf, this is a very good learning opportunity too.

Re: School Absence

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 5:01 pm
by lotsolaffs
Even if she has refused time off can you still take the time off? What would happen?
A fine?

Re: School Absence

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 8:16 pm
by RoseTowers4
Speak to the council who issue the license. They can override the school. The school cannot just say no.

Re: School Absence

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:47 pm
by Yorkshirepudding
Yes, agreed - school cannot just say no. They can only refuse if there is evidence that your child's attendance is already low or if they are struggling academically.

I have attempted to link to some other threads on it:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22473&p=243518&hili ... le#p243518

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=20729&p=240456&hili ... ed#p240456

Re: School Absence

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:52 pm
by Yorkshirepudding
By the way - congratulations to your DC on the job!
\:D/

Re: School Absence

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:37 pm
by toesxed
Thank you for your responses, I am so grateful. You are all so helpful.
I will follow all the leads :) I understand that I must approach the council otherwise the licence will not be granted, I just hope they will be on side. With the Bank holiday, we are very short of time now. So worried that this opportunity will slip out of our fingers.

Re: School Absence

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:02 am
by Pandora II
I've always gone down the path of not asking for permission but just assuming that it will be given. Legally my child will be counted as 'educated off site' so it doesnt affect the school's figures.

It's much harder to say no to: 'DD will be absent from school on x dates, here are the forms required by the council, if you could please complete x, y, z' than it is to say no to 'please could DD have permission to miss x dates'.

We are fortunate to have a school who are supportive, but I have found that providing template wording for permission letters etc gets me major brownie points as it removes all the faff for the school office. I also wonder if some schools are funny about things because they a) don't understand the legislation and b) are very unsure of what they need to write to cover themselves.

Re: School Absence

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:17 am
by RoseTowers4
I like the idea of presenting it as a fait accompli.

Would it be educated off site though? If there is no tutor and they are missing a school day, would it not just be authorised absence?

Re: School Absence

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:48 am
by ScoobyDoo
Firstly no you cannot just ignore the school and take the day off because you need them to sign a letter saying they agree to it in order to get the licence (and if you did not get a licence you would struggle to get one for anything else and the production could get into lots of trouble). Speak to county council asap. I think there are different rules for absences for performance, it is not just unauthorised absence, I think there are different categories. Educated off-site could also loosely be covered by asking for that day's work and doing it on the way there and handing it in the next day.

Re: School Absence

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 10:24 am
by Pandora II
I'm not 100% on the legislation, but 'educated off site' isn't just for tutored on set etc.

I know DD's school use that code for auditions etc as the HT considers it a valid educational experience.

We do have a loose agreement with school that she can do theatre/film/TV in term-time (has to be at a serious paid professional level, so WE or off-WE for theatre and filmwork can't be student-type stuff) but no modelling or TVCs "unless a major charity campaign the HT deems acceptable and as an exception".

We were happy with that, so if you are having to negotiate and you are not planning to do lots of last minute modelling/TVC type stuff, it might be worth setting out what you will/won't do. They do tend to panic that you will be off every other week otherwise.

Dreading secondary in a few years and potentially having to renegotiate it all with a new HT...

Re: School Absence

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 12:29 am
by toesxed
Thank you again for all your replies.
I definitely like the suggestion of presenting it as a fait accompli but I know that the Head Teacher believes it is her right to make this decision.
It is upsetting that some heads seem to be sniffy over what work they deem as acceptable, and dismissive of e.g. TVCS/modelling. Surely, that should be the decision of the parent/s.
Thanks again for sharing all your experiences and knowledge, I am very grateful.