Hi, I am not sure this is in the right place, I hope someone can help, I arranged in Feb 13 to take my autistic son on a Family Holiday in September, this was authorised in writing by the school (signed by headmaster), he is due to be off for 10 days. On the school website it still states that up to 10 days may be authorised for holidays in term time. Now, i receive an email from the school (My sons teacher) 2 days before the school closes for summer advising that " I spoke to Ms Harris in Student Services. Ms Harris confirmed that all term holiday concessions on discretion of schools have been withdrawn by the Government. If a parent therefore takes a student on holiday during term time, there will be a fine of £60 to one or both parents." Can the school go back on a letter that has authorised the holiday? Can the school at this short notice (knowing full well the holiday has been booked and payed for) basically cancel the holiday for my son who is autistic and is really looking forward to it? Would i have a leg to stand on, if i take him away with us and argue the fine when he returns? Obviously being autistic he needs the stability and routine which the school are trying to change, he has been planning "his" holiday since he first found out he was going, even trying to improve his schooling so he could go. Before anyone has a go about taking him out of school in term time, it is the ONLY time we can afford any kind of holiday and he doesn't live with us, we live a couple of hundred miles away from him and only get to see him a few times a year, so understandably he loves anytime he gets to see us.

i have a severley disabled 16 year old son. in september they changed his school bus and driver since then he has been very difficult in going on the minibus. he is refusing to put the shoulder straps of the harness on. this results in the passenger assistant refusing to transport him, so he was off loaded. At that time i was ill with pneumonia so that resulted in him not going to school as no other way to get him there. My husband works abroad. It was then agreed that they would get a Taxi this was decided before October half term(28/10/2013). The head of passenger transport said they would look into other harnesses. After half term my son was ill for a few days, when well he would go on the bus but refused the shoulder straps so was taken off the bus leaving me to take him to school in car. He is now refusing to get on the Bus. He is sevely autistic and going in car has now become ingrained. He needs to be in school by 8.45 but i need to be in work at 8.30. It is 16 miles each way to his school. my school head has allowed me to go to work an hour later ( I am loosing the money) but only to Xmas passenger transport have arranged a taxi but no PA so I am having to go instead. I am still ill with pnemonia and are due to be signed off again the Stress as this situation is really getting to me but no one seems to care or be bothered. i have no respite care or help and i am now at my wits end If i'm signed off i cannot be paid or claim for petrol. We dont have a huge income and this is now getting to the stage that my son will nor be going to school. Surely there is someone/somebody that can help

Hi Caggers, I need some advice on statement of educational needs. Can I change the named school in my child's statement or will I need to ask for him to be re-assessed? It has been 9 months since his last review and 4 years since I actually named a school in his statement.

The OFT are writing to 29,500 state Schools asking them to remove restrictions. Where parents are forced to buy from specialist suppliers. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223168/Parents-lose-52million-year-uniform-costs-state-schools-force-spend-169-skirt.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2385253/Mother-fined-400-sons-school-absence-brain-tumour-7-years-ago.html Could not see this posted elsewhere on CAG. But Marstons have chased a Mother 8 years after a council had apparently obtained some court order re a fine for truancy, when the Son concerned had a brain tumour.

Ok im not sure this belongs here so please move if needed. So my child is starting primary school in september and we have received a application for free school meals form. It says you are entitle to free school meals if you are in receipt of the following Income Support Income based Jobseekers Allowance Garunteed element of pension credit Child tax credit (without working tax credit) and a annual income below £16.190 Employment and support allowance (income related) Support under part V1 of the immigration and asylum act 1999 So my situation is, i am self employed, i receive housing benefit and council tax benefit as my income is low, i also receive child tax credit and working tax credit. My self employed income for the last 12 months has been £0 ive broke even just. Yet im still not entitle to the free school meals. As a family we are living of less each week than someone who gets JSA. Is there a way i can fight this, we struggle at the moment yet alone trying to find another £15-£20 a week come september for school meals. Thanks

Sorry if im in the wrong forum, I searched but was not sure were to post, so thought best here as it local authority. I took my children out of school on Wednesday, to go and visit a very close immediate family member recovering from cancer! I did give the school a letter (the school are doing a trial run over the new law about unauthorised school leaves for days and holidays) so i completed the form as requested and gave it the Tuesday as I was told to hand it in then. Wednesday comes and we are on a long public transport journey to see the family member, when at 12.00,we get a call to cancel as they had took a turn, and were not feeling to well so said to arrange another day. I okied this, but was gutted as we had spent 4 hours already on the train, so decided to make the most of the day and go walking around the area we were at. We wondered round the area a bit, and purchased a new vehicle we had no intention of doing this but it was a good offer and decided why not. (daft but was cheap and we needed one, have another thread on here about a vehicle we just returned). On Friday (Thursday school closed due to strike, only got a weeks notice!) one of my children said that the head teacher and there teacher questioned as to why they took a school day off, to go on a day trip when they should be learning. My child said a letter was handed in and told them what had happened, the teacher then said that they never got he letter, but i do know they did as I personally handed it to them. What i don't like is they question my child who is 8 years old but is being looked into for development delay problems and so far being assessed as a child with the mental age of a 4-5 year old, so he does not remember things very well, so even though he knew we were going to see this family member he didn't mention the events that happened. I am angry about this as the school know about my childs problem and knew what we were doing as I had spoke to them about it everyday so they were aware! I feel they have over stepped the line to make us out to be liars, I have never allowed my children to stay off unless ill, we have never had a holiday during school term they have very good attendance marks as well.

My 18 yr old son has just informed me that he has finished school, as in signed off 6th form now, last friday (before half term) He is due to start college in september. I only spoke to HMRC the other day about him going to college & it's been put on their system for tax credits. But officially he is no longer in education is he! When he started 6th form, it was a 2 year course, yet it's not 2 years is it?! Am I supposed to stop claiming housing benefit/tax credits with him classed as in education, from now until september? This came about as another lad today said he should claim Job seekers allowance until he goes to college? And it got me thinking. Can he even do that? When I say signed off 6th form, I mean his course has actually finished, he's done his exams. He hasn't left before he was supposed to or anything like that.

OK - this is my first post on a forum, so please be gentle Even if it is a tad long winded :/ I have received 3 PCNs for being 'parked' in the same spot on 3 occasions near my daughters school - on single yellow lines with time restrictions. They arrived in the post up to 2 weeks after the alleged contraventions. All were received well after the final contravention. There are time restrictions I am now aware of, but didn't notice before due to cars always being parked there at school drop off and pick up times. I have appealed and have today received the rejection notices from the council. My grounds for appeal (A), and the council responses ® are as follows (not full wording, but you'll get the idea): A1. CCTV enforcement not necessary - plenty of space on full sized pavement areas throughout the area so perfectly safe for foot patrol. R1. Not practical for foot patrol as parents could run to cars to quickly move the vehicles in order to avoid a ticket - in doing so, this would put children in danger due to moving vehicles. A2. No signs to state CCTV used in the area (very quiet semi-rural area) to enforce parking restrictions. R2. Response basically states signs only needed for static cameras. A3. Video evidence less than 2 seconds long - therefore cannot prove the vehicle was parked - I was in the driving seat with engine running on all 3 occasions - although not visible on the video evidence. It was also not able to see the passenger side - the viseo not long enough to even see if I had a passenger alighting. R3. Stopping / waiting not permitted during restricted times, therefore, as soon as car stopped, the contravention occurred. A4. video footage shows single yellow lines, but not the signs showing restrictions in place. R4. the footage shows signs at both ends of the road the vehicle was 'parked' on (you can see there are signs there, but not what they say at all). A5. between the date of the first 'contravention', and the date the first PCN arrived in the post, I could have 'parked' on the same spot 24 times before it was brought to my attention that I shouldn't be doing. This shows the primary objective of 'prevention' clearly hasn't been met. If restrictions there to keep children safe, this effectively means they knowingly allowed the children to obe in danger for nearly 2 weeks. R5. It is drivers responsibility to ensure they are parked legally. A6. the camera car turned right onto the road where I was 'parked'. The angle of the corner from the other direction means the camera car could not pick up the registration of the car parked on that corner on 2 of the 3 occasions. Therefore, cars parked on the corner of a junction can't have received parking fines, which the driver of the camera car would be aware of. Therefore, they knowingly allow cars to park illegally with no penalty, or warning that they should not park there. R6. Other cars on those days in that area received tickets - cannot comment on which cars. A7. No statement from the issuing CEO on the PCNs R7. None necessary I guess I'm looking for reassurance that I'm not going mad!!!! Surely I have enough to win...... don't I? There response R1 should be enough I would have thought - can't see how that could stand up to scrutiny! If anyone can confirm any or all of these points, or point out why they may be invalid, I'd appreciate it. Many thanks Jo

Hi i am looking for some advice regarding my daughters holiday club, i will try to keep it brief. I booked a place on-line at a holiday club for my daughter as her friend was going and they wanted to spend the day together. We then found out her friend was going pony riding with the club so we went back on-line to add this for our daughter but was unable to do it as the system would not allow it even though there was some spaces left.I then phoned the provider and was told they will look at it and get back to us.They emailed me back on Monday night and told me there are no more spaces left for the riding, i emailed them back to explain that the only reason my daughter was going was to spend the day with her friend as she would not be able to do this now can we cancel the day and have a refund. A day later they replied only to say they do not give refunds. My question is Do i have any rights , cooling of period etc this was booked on-line on Thursday 28/4 for a space on Wed 10/5 if they had told me on the Thursday the riding was full i would have tried to cancel it then but i had to Waite over the weekend for them to come back to me on Monday night. Any help or advice would be much appreciated thanks

Excuse my ignorance, but this is a genuine question as I did my schooling overseas. Why are children in Britain supplied with breakfast and dinner at school? When I was at school in the sixties school started at 8am until 2.30pm. Our parents made sure that we had breakfast as we have to get up at 6am to be ready to go to school by about 7.30am as we had to walk to school which was about 2 mile away. Every morning my parents would make us sandwiches to take with us and we also had some fruit like apples, grapes etc. Our parents never received any child benefits or any benefits of any kind as they were not available. We certainly were not well off and it was a struggle from day to day, but we managed and I had a good upbringing. Here people get various child benefits, but why are all kids also given meals which must cost the state a fortune?

Hi Cag's I will try to keep this brief but could do with a little crumb of comfort in our house tonight. My wife applied for one of these driver instructor courses which was RED Driving School. Below is a brief timeline. Went to find about a driving instructor course in 2007, filled out some forms. I then didn't take the course due medical reasons, the course was cancelled with Red in Wimbledon One year later £179.00 was taken from my account, got in touch with RED and they agreed to take no more money I heard no more untill 2011 when Capquest contacted me requestiing £7000 for a driving course not even taken Capquest had taken a CCJ agaisnt me, so wrote to Capquest explaining the situation & received more threatning letters from Capquest Applied to the court to have CCJ removed and case to heard at court Went to Croydon County Court in November and judge was sympathetic towards my case and questioned Capquests conduct and advised to me to put in my own witness statement Another date was set for 11th March 2013 This judge gave me 3 minutes of his time, did not listen to my point of view & told me it was my signature on the credit agreement and I was liable to pay all court cost's and interest over 5 years Red Driving School have received this money, I did not not knowingly sign & credit agreement or receive any money or do the course So what are our options now? Can't afford to pay this debt, don't think we should bearing mind we have not even had the course, not like we have had a car or something. Think we have been very let down by the judge today. Any help would be of a great help to us.

the school my son attends ,wont be letting him stop on as he has been a problem pupil. i am a single dad,but i am worried when he leaves school, his tax credits will stop and i will have just £71 a week to keep us both,which would be inpossible,would there be any other benefits i could claim,when i asked my advisor at the work programe,she said i would not get any thing as he wont be in full time education.

My friend turned up for her practical driving test having been trained by Red Driving School only to have the examiner refuse to conduct the test as the car did not have a current "tax disc" The instructor wrongly informed the pupil that the test would automatically be rebooked by the DSA this proved to be wrong as Red were the ones at fault. We tried to get the test fee refunded by Red who have refused stating that the instructor is responsible however the instructor states that Red who she franchises to are responsible for taxing the car and a look at their website seems to confirm this. In the meantime my friend cannot afford to rebook her test and is having to take further training (with a different driving school) to maintain her driving standard. What can she do to get her test fee refunded?

hello I am new here and i am stuck as to where to post. I would like some help and advice please with a schhol fee's disoute i am having - can anyone please help me - thank you

Hey everyone, I was hoping someone could give me a bit of advice (that I can give to my parents). My younger brother and sister were absent from school for the last 3 days of the term in July (2 and a half really as the school closed at 12pm on the last day), because they and my parents went down south for a few days. This was the only time they were able to get off work and the only time they could afford to go away (they've had a pretty rough year and haven't had a real break in God-knows how long). They submitted a holiday form to the school, and were never told that they weren't allowed to go so assumed everything was ok. However, they got in from work a couple of days ago and had a letter from the school with a £400 fine (£100 per child per parent), and a photocopy of the holiday form with 'Unauthorised' written on it, stating that if the fine isn't paid within 42 days they they will be taken to court. Both my brother and sister have excellent grades and are in the top sets at school, this wasn't during an exam period, and in the last week all they do is watch DVDs anyway. This hasn't affected their performance in any way whatsoever. Obviously my parents can't afford to pay this fine, and all it is doing by threatening them with court action is stressing them out even more, which they definitely don't need at the moment. Is this fine allowed seeing as they submitted a holiday form and were never told that they couldn't have the time off? And is there any way in which they can appeal it? Thanks in advance for your help.

Unfortunately we can't take holidays during the school ones and that's the way it has been for a while. Not through affordability but because my OH has to work those times on contract through all of them without a choice. The best we can do is the second week in September to meet with my sister and her family that also have to take time from work and have to travel from Canada. I'm worried that we will be denied that time by my daughters school even though it's the first absence she will have had in 2 years. She's almost 11 and I know education is important and it's short notice to give them but this time will be important as a family also. Schools seem to think one size fits all and you are a bad parent for not taking holidays in the time they say. Not all parents can do that. Just as not all parents can afford the 'trips' away that schools organize but the rest left behind aren't getting the same education either and are left in the classroom as 2nd best. It suits them then that certain children can be absent and to have a 2 tier education. It's booked and I guess I have to face it when it comes to it. OH has booked the time off and got moaned at even though it's it's first in over a year and well in advance. He may not have a job to return to but that's life and sometimes family counts for much more.

Can you get free school, invalidity or elderly transport if you live in a remote area ?? The tools on 'magic.gov website can help. Please remember to click on the 'accept terms' button to enter the site On the bottom of the page, Use the + & - buttons to zoom in and out and the 'hand' to center the map. At the top of the page , use the 'Ruler' button to measure distance. http://magic.defra.gov.uk/website/magic/viewer.htm?startTopic=maggb

Hi everyone, My sister receieved a claim form from a school which my niece havent even attended and we are not sure what to do! She sent my niece (5 year old now) to school's nursary in Summer 2009. But she didnt carry on sending her to the same school. But she paid all the nursary fees at the time. However, the school claims that she was withdrawn without notice from the primary school. She only attended the same school only for the nursary and they have no proof that she was agreed to carry on for the primary school. Here is what the particulars of claim section states: ------ Outstanding Fees of #80 for Summer 2009 and Lieu of notice for Autumn 2009 because a full terms notice was not given prior to withdrawal of child from Langdale School. The claiment claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 01/09/2009 to 14/12/2009 on #1,077.00 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment at a daily rate of #0.25 ------- The letter was received on the 15 December 2010. And from the date i believe she has 5 + 14 days to respond so that leaves her time to respond until 3rd of January! She usually leaves in Blackpool, she only came down to London to see us for the holidays and only now she told me about the letter! And i really dont know what to do! Not sure if theres time to extend the deadline! Thats why i need your help guys. We have only 3 days left and here i am sitting on my laptop on new years eve trying my best! I would really appreciate if you could help me with this matter... I wish everyone a happy new year and i hope all your wishes come true this year... Many Thanks. Kindest Regards; iceboy