Shropshire Star

Pupils miss exams after being taken out of school for holidays

TWO SHROPSHIRE pupils have missed their exams because they were taken out of school for family holidays. TWO SHROPSHIRE pupils have missed their exams because they were taken out of school for family holidays. And county education bosses have revealed that since last September they have imposed nearly 40 fines on parents who have taken their children on holiday during term time. Today the headteacher of the pupils who missed their GCSEs said two years of study had been wasted. Jane Radbourne of The Grove School at Market Drayton also confirmed they would not be able to re-sit the exams. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star

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TWO SHROPSHIRE pupils have missed their exams because they were taken out of school for family holidays.

And county education bosses have revealed that since last September they have imposed nearly 40 fines on parents who have taken their children on holiday during term time.

Today the headteacher of the pupils who missed their GCSEs said two years of study had been wasted.

Jane Radbourne of The Grove School at Market Drayton also confirmed they would not be able to re-sit the exams.

Shropshire Council said that 39 penalty notices have been issued this academic year to parents who have taken their children out of school for holidays.

A penalty notice is a £50 fine £100 if not paid within 42 days and are an alternative to prosecution. Twenty-one were issued in Telford and Wrekin last year.

Badly

Ms Radbourne said two unrelated Year 11 pupils, had missed their GCSEs.

She said: "It is such a waste. I think this sort of thing really badly affects the life chances of students."

She said the school actively discouraged the taking of term-time holidays during Year 10 and Year 11.

Janice Stackhouse, Shropshire Council's principal education welfare officer, said: "Holidays taken during term time can have a negative effect on both the individual pupil and the other pupils within the class and therefore we encourage parents and carers not to take children on holidays during term time."

But attendance rates in both Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin are among the best in the country.

"The attendance data for the autumn 2009 term again demonstrated that the attendance rate of Shropshire children is better than the national average," said Mrs Stackhouse.

"In England the combined absence figure for maintained primary and state funded secondary schools was 6.13 per cent whilst in Shropshire the figure was 5.72 per cent.

"In cases of unauthorised absence the council will take firm action to support the schools and the children."

By Education Correspondent Dave Morris

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