Hello,
Not sure if I'm posting this in the right place.
Does anyone know what the rules are regarding the schools obtaining permission for a child to travel abroad on school trips?
We were aware that my eldest stepson was going to France at some point but his mum never bothered to tell us when(my partner does have parental responsibility and his two children are subject of a contact order).
This morning he received a text out of the blue from the school informing him that the school trip was next weekend(Father's Day). This is of course a little disappointing as we don't see them very often and it would've been nice to do something together on Father's Day.
Anyway, are schools obliged to contact anyone who has parental responsibility for trips abroad?
The main issue is that their mother does her very best to avoid any correspondence regarding school matters and subsequently, we are the last to find out anything at all.
Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated as we hope to be able to do something in order to avoid being left out of the loop in the future.
Hi there
I would have thought that the school would require both parents permission, to take a child abroad. You could try calling the local authority education department to enquire about this, but the school should be able to give this information too.
Your partner can request that the school adds him so that he receives information on events such a parent evenings, as he has PR they are required to agree to that.
The fact that you have an order in place and the school trip means contact will be breached, the mother should also have liaised with you and it would have been appropriate for her to offer an alternate to replace the time that’s been lost.
I would write to her formally to remind her that the school trip should have been discussed with you as it falls on a contact visit, explain that this is a breach of the court order, that you wouldn’t have withheld permission, but think it appropriate that the time missed is made up in a timely manner on his return and suggest that this be the first weekend after he gets back.
All the best
I would have thought that unless there was an order stating otherwise, either parent could give permission - if there is disagreement between the parents, it's not really the school's responsibility to resolve that.
I think the difference is the fact that the child is being taken out of the jurisdiction. If the mother wanted to take the child abroad, she would require permission from the father, I cant see that that rule would be relaxed because the school was taking the child. Just my opinion though.
As said, the school or local authority education department should discuss this.