with good ol' labour here policing the 'truancy' levels, unauthorised school absences can get you a big fine.
my daughters school is a bit of a stickler, so as we are no longer allowed to decide whether our kids are sick or not i've adopted a "go to school and let them decide if they want to send you home because you're sick" policy.
while chatting to the nurse who rang me from school today (to go pick up sickly littlun), i was a little more than taken back to find out that....
if the school nurse sends home a child they are then classed as an unauthorised absence, most of the times i've brought littlun home from school is because they have requested this.
On the other hand if she had been 'isolated' or sent home from school by a teacher for being a little shit in class that would not class as an unauthorised absence as the teacher has sent her home.
I wonder how many other schools here are adopting that policy, my daughters school definately doesn't advertise it.