Selston dad 'prepared to go to court' after fine for taking son out of school to attend D-Day events in France

Lee Sunderland, aged 48, told Selston High School in the weeks leading up to the trip, that he was planning to take his 15-year-old son Stanley out of school for a few days to attend the commemorations in Normandy.

But on returning, he and his wife have recieved notices from the school that they will be both be reported to Nottinghamshire Council for an unauthorised absence and that both will be receiving £60 fines as a result – making the total fine £120.

Lee has branded this as ‘very unfair’ and says he feels ‘totally let down’ by the school.

And he says he and his wife are prepared to go to court to fight it if necessary.

Lee said: “This is totally unfair because the school have said we’ve taken Stanley on a holiday – well we’ve not been sat around a pool in Majorca.

"Every day we were doing something and on D-Day itself we were on Utah beach at 6.30am with the sun rising and planes flying overhead and it was very emotional.

"The 80th anniversary of D-Day was a very big event and Stanley is obsessed with history, particularly WWII, so to be there was very important to us and I feel let down that the headmaster can’t recognise that.

"I feel so strongly about this, I’ll quite happily go to court about it.

"It should be classed as exceptional circumstances.

"When we got back from Normandy, we got the letter saying we’d be getting fined, so I called Stanley’s head of year and she was very sympathetic but said the only exceptions they have are for bereavements.

"I just feel very disappointed by that and by the fact that the school can’t recognise that this is an exceptional circumstance.”

A spokesperson for the school said: "Government guidance states that any planned term-time absence must be an ‘exceptional circumstance’ and personal educational visits do not fall into this category. Schools are obligated to report any unauthorised absence to the local authority.

"Maintaining good attendance is important to the education of all our students, as it is critical to ensuring our young people reach their full potential."

Denis McCarthy, service manager in the family service, at the county council, said: “The decision to approve a leave of absence in term time resides solely with head teachers.

"In line with Derpartment of Education statutory guidance and national regulations, a head teacher can only agree a leave of absence in term time in exceptional circumstances.

“The council does not adjudicate on decisions taken by individual head teachers regarding requests for a leave of absence in term time.

"We recognise that the D-Day celebrations were a significant event of national interest.

"However, without knowing the full details behind the leave of absence request, we do not believe they would fall under the exceptional circumstances category for an approved leave of absence from school in term time.”