Star comment: Big cost of term-time holidays
Pupils' unauthorised absence from school does not come cheap for parents. But despite being hit hard in the pocket, with £94,500 collected by Telford & Wrekin Council over the past three years, children are still going missing in term time.
And we all know where they are. Instead of doing algebra, science, or English grammar, they are soaking up the sun on holiday with their parents.
The vast majority of fines being dished out are for unauthorised holidays. Relatively few are for truancy or a poor attendance record.
Why is this happening? It's the law. Since September 2013, discretion in this matter has been taken away from headteachers. Instead there is a £60 fine per parent, per pupil.
As Telford & Wrekin has issued 1,774 penalty notices, it can hardly be described as a measure that is popular with parents. On the contrary, that figure points to mass non-compliance.
We all know the reason for that as well. It is because holiday costs are scandalously inflated during the school holidays. Families can save hundreds of pounds if they go in term time. The £60 fine is trifling in comparison. In some cases parents are paying the £60 fine in advance, sending in a cheque, while telling the heads that they intend to take the child out of school.
One primary school head in Kent threatened to expel every child who went on a family holiday in term time.
Much as taking children out of school without permission is to be condemned as disruptive and potentially damaging to their education, as well as that of their classmates – as time will have to be spent by teachers ensuring the absentees catch up on their return – until either the fines are made a true deterrent, or airlines and holiday firms stop penalising families who play the game by taking their holidays in school time, then this rebellion will persist.
The schools may label them bad parents, but they just want a family holiday they can afford.
There also has to be a measure of common sense. Would, for instance, taking a six-year-old out of school at the dog-end of a term really be all that damaging, and could not a trip to experience other cultures not be a valuable education in its own way?
The current situation is the worst of all worlds, pitting family life against academic life, and heads against parents, without solving the problem.
