Published on 12, July, 2020
This is my first post please be kind my punctuation and spelling is not great
My husband and I have just received penalty notices for my 12 year old ASD son as we took him on holiday during term time my son can not deal with crowded places and lots of over excited children we obviously want our son to experience every opportunity we can give him but find if we take him away during school holidays it is too stressful and overwhelming for him so we have no choice but to take him during school term time when it is quieter and he can enjoy his break away. My son is in mainstream school and the school are well aware of why we take him away during term time. Has anyone else had this issue and is there anything we can do about the penalty notice as it states we have no statutory right to appeal but feel there is exceptional circumstances for the leave
Used to do this years ago with my children (I’m autistic too) - used to say they were ill but we would go on holiday to somewhere really quiet during term time. There were no fines when they were young (they’re adults now). I didn’t like lying to the school (I actually HATE lying and dishonesty) but my children found school so stressful and they really NEEDED a holiday that they could enjoy (and so did I!). Did you tell the school you were taking them out for a holiday? I have no idea if it would help but if I was in your position (having been ‘caught out’) I would right a letter to the school explaining your situation and how this relates to autism. I’ve got to be honest though I doubt they’ll make an exception for you. This must be the case for many autistic families - I’m not sure if anyone has ‘tested’ this legally?
Were a parent to be found out in a lie, their credibility with the school would be finished. Your idea of contacting the school to explain the circumstances makes more sense.
To be honest, I never really understood why the government wanted to issue FPNs to parents who took holidays, but took a more lenient approach to those whose kids were "sick" on Fridays and Mondays - we had families with Caravan Syndrome (treated by long weekends at their caravan) or hungover Mondays, but it was easier to go for the families with 90% attendance otherwise who wanted a week off. I would rather spend my time trying to help dysfunctional families than sending out FPNs to families with 90+% attendance. The policy did not make sense to me ... but it was what senior management required due to pressure from the DfE.
It is all about politicians and statistics - by banning term-term holidays it looks as though attendance is improving nationally, and there are fewer schools whose "persistent absence " figures are below the (arbitrary) national targets. It is about quick political gains. I was once asked to "intervene" when a school's attendance dropped. The nursery had an epidemic of rubella, at the start of term, followed a few weeks later by a spell of influenza. Anybody with Early Years experience knows that a lot of kids are off sick the first few weeks of term, then they share out all the bugs to create a stable biome. They were all legitimate sicknesses, but the statistics looked bad. So for six weeks I visited each week, checked the register and had a cup of tea with the admin officer. By the end of term, the average had improved, and I was congratulated on my effective intervention!