Termtime holidays, father wins High Court case

[namechangeparents]

Quite surprised about the outcome actually but haven't read the legislation to see exactly what it says. Just hope lots of local authorities don't have to pay back fines now, because there will be even more cuts to services.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36277940

Looks like an Education Act might be added to the Queen's Speech next week to resolve the issue rather than relying on the Court of Appeal maybe?

[WordGetsAround]

Excellent result. I'm really pleased.

[LittleMissBossyBoots]

I'm pleased to. They need to bring back common sense. Education isn't just about books and classrooms. Children also learn from travelling and experiencing other cultures and environments.

[bumblefeline]

It's good news.

When I was at school in the 90's we were allowed 10 days off a year as long as attendance was ok. It never effected me being off and we had some lovely holidays.

[jellyfrizz]

I'm pleased to. They need to bring back common sense. Education isn't just about books and classrooms. Children also learn from travelling and experiencing other cultures and environments.

I totally agree.

[KitKatCustard]

Hope the teachers can go on hols whenever they like too!

[redexpat]

Common sense goes both ways though. When I was at school one girl went to Florida for 6 weeks in y6, and another was the eldest girl in her family and was packed off in y10 for a month to go and care for a relative. Where was the common sense of the parents?

[namechangeparents]

The government will change the law. Don't celebrate too soon.

[GahBuggerit]

i wish id taken ds out this week, heartbreaking to have a 7 year old in tears every night and every morning because hes "stupid"

[WeAllHaveWings]

The government says it will now look to change the law.

"We will look at the judgement in detail but are clear children's attendance is non-negotiable so we will now look to change the law," said a spokesman for the Department for Education.

The law will be changed to make it impossible to win these cases.

Personally I think he is wrong. His daughter was taken out of school for 2 holidays this year once with her mother and 7 days with her father. Her attendance was barely 90%. She is missing nearly 1 in 10 days of her education.

[howtorebuild]

I am concerned they will now hurt SEND children with lower attendance, to look good for OFSTED.

[BeyondTellsEveryoneRealFacts]

Good. The whole thing is pointless anyway, both the teachers and welfare officer agreed that we had done nothing wrong when we took the kids away, even when it was for more than 10 days. Wastes their time that they have to speak to us about it when they have actual jobs to be doing!

[BeyondTellsEveryoneRealFacts]

how does one set up to be officially part time home ed?

[KondosSecretJunkRoom]

I think it's brilliant news. It makes no sense to engender such an oppositional relationship between parents and schools over this issue.

[drivinmecrazy]

Common sense would dictate that power is put back into the hands of the head teachers to decide on a case by case basis whether to authorize an absence. It seemed to work for many a year.
I do also think that different rules should be developed for Primary and secondary pupils. A yr4 child taking 10 days away from school is going to have far less of an impact on their studies than a yr9 child taking 10 days away from school.

[acasualobserver]

When I taught I would have been perfectly happy for parents to take their children on holiday in term time provided that teaching materials and assignments were not demanded in advance of the holiday and then extra catch-up sessions demanded on the pupil's return.

[ghostyslovesheep]

he was always going to win - can't believe the council took it this far - the law says they can't continuously miss school - so a child who has 97% attendance but misses 5 days hasn't had excessive time away from school thus they can't fine the parents

[ghostyslovesheep]

sorry the law requires 'regular attendance' - and 97% attendance is regular according to this case

we are off for a week in June - all 3 kids have attendance over 96% I'm hoping this is good news for us

[TheyreBreakingThrough]

It will get worse.
The government are going to change the law, which surely means it will be a criminal offence to let children miss school.

I only have one child in school and I will home educate her before I let the government stop us from having a family holiday.

DH cannot take any time off during school holidays so travelling at another time simply isn't an option. If we could go every 2 or 3 years I wouldn't mind as much. No family holidays at all until she's 18 years old is just too controlling.

[LurkingHusband]

The government says it will now look to change the law.

Except, annoyingly, all UK law should be compatible with that pesky British invention of European Human Rights (you did know we invented it didn't you ?).

I'd be curious to see what law can be written to enforce attendance at a school without falling foul of article 8. Especially as it would only apply to state schools, not private ones. (Can't see the privilege denizens of Eton being penalised).

[NickiFury]

That's really cheered me up. Hopefully the tide will turn now on this ridiculous law.

[parmalilac]

As long as the kids' termtime absence causes no extra work whatsoever for the teachers, and no disruption for the other students, then fair enough ... but not sure this is the case, thus it's selfish and entitled.

[lalalonglegs]

I support his victory but I was shocked when he said on the radio this morning that his children had always achieved at least 93% attendance - that's not that great to start with .

[silverpenny]

Saw the dad talking on the news - its not just one holiday, seems to be several, disney, skiing, barcelona etc at the start and end of each term, seems excessive?

[BonerSibary]

Once teachers cease drawing a salary to be there kitkat they can have all the holidays they want!

(For the hard of thinking, this post is suggesting people stop making analogies that don't work, not that teachers should stop getting paid).

On the subject of changing the law, they might of course, but it doesn't seem the wisest or most necessary fight to pick when you have a majority of 12. About a dozen of them have majorities in three figures or thereabouts too. These sort of unpopular non manifesto drives can easily lose an MP a seat.

[MangoMoon]

I was under the impression that it was at HT discretion still - just that some councils chose to interpret it much more harshly than others.