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Term time school holidays.
After last year's high court ruling stating that it is not illegal to take a child out of school for a holiday, many schools have relaxed their holiday policy; the original objective of the government policy was to crack down on unauthorised absence as it affected a child's performance.
The governments guidance on the rule was very general and open to abuse, as an ex school governor I saw it first hand, the wealthy family being given a yacht for a week in the Caribbean were granted a week's holiday because it was a 'holiday of a lifetime' but in truth could have gone anytime; and the family saving to go to Europe on their first ever family holiday, were refused permission; the whole system was open to interpretation and, at the moment, it seems that it's more confusing than ever.
A recent investigation by the BBC showed that out of 108 councils that gave information, 35 have changed their policy and 28 have withdrawn the fines that were issued.
So what are the rules?
A child can miss school if they are
- Ill
- Have permission from the school
The old rules allowed a headmaster to grant up to 10 days' absence, now they cannot grant any holiday - unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Placing the burden of judgement on the head teacher can pit parents against a school which is very unhealthy and puts the Head in a very difficult position.
Should the child then take unauthorised absence they will be fined £60, figures show over 50,000 fines were issued last year.
It is wrong that Suffolk for example issued over 6,000 fines last year and other areas hardly issued any.
The case is now going to the Supreme Court with the government set to appeal against the judgements, however the Government needs to understand that the existing system is not working and is producing resentment towards schools from parents and resentment between parents, it needs to be changed, schools need a fair system with a clear structure.
I have seen research published by the Department for Education showing that every day missed slightly reduces the chance of a pupil achieving 5 GCSEs grade A-C, but there is a difference between persistent unauthorised one or two day absences (leading to low attendance) and a family holiday (for a pupil with 100% attendance).
It can be argued that the experience of travelling is in itself, an education and spending time with your family invaluable.
The cost of an average family holiday over the school holiday period is 50% higher than outside of school holidays.
The case goes before the Supreme Court today, whatever the outcome, as a parent I know the rules need to be clear, perhaps the old system worked after all?
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