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Good morning,
I have been notified by my ex-partner that she is taking our son out of school for a period of 10 school days for a holiday. The holiday falls a week before the Easter holidays, meaning that our son will be in attendance of school for just 4 days over a 5 week period. Our son in behind school and an authorised absence notice has been granted by the school for this holiday. Could I please enquire as to what rights I have as a father to my sons education? To date I have not received any school reports, notices of parents evenings or asked my permission for our son to attend school trips etc. I am on the understanding that this breaches the Educations Act 1996 in which a father should be notified of a child's' education information. Any advice would be kindly appreciated.
I have lodged a formal complaint with the school and have been told that as I do not have residency of our son (although we have joint custody) that I do not have any rights to what happens while our son is at school. I would never have given permission for him to be taken out of school for such a long period had i been given the choice.
Kind regards
Richard
Do you have a court order that states you have shared residency and is this 50/50?
Some schools are very awkward but this link might help explain things....
Further to what 1626 has said...
The key here is not whether you have shared or 50/50 residency, but whether you have Parental Responsibility.
1. Are you listed on the child's birth certificate as the father?
2. What year was the child born (please do not give month and day). This will determine whether point 1 above automatically grants you PR.
https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-responsibilities/what-is-parental-responsibility
https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-responsibilities/who-has-parental-responsibility
If you have PR, then the school must, on request, keep you informed of all matters pertaining to his education.
If you have PR, then you can apply for a Specific Issue order in court to get the court to rule that the child cannot be removed from attending school outside of holidays for a vacation.
https://www.gov.uk/looking-after-children-divorce/types-of-court-order
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