Parents should put school first

WITH the half term upon us, the thorny issue of steep holiday prices and the parents' dilemma is back on the agenda.

Two fathers have made headlines for fighting fines for taking children out of school in term time. Craig Langman founded Parents Want A Say, calling for school fines to be scrapped, after being threatened with one if he took his son out of class for a trip to visit his sick grandfather.

And last week a father won a court battle after refusing to pay £120 for taking his daughter out of school to go to Disney World, Florida. He argued that the law requires parents to ensure their children attend school "regularly".

It's common knowledge that holiday prices rise steeply during school breaks - and surely this is something people are aware of before they make the choice to have children - but it seems that increasing numbers of parents would rather be fined for taking term-time holidays instead. Figures released today under the Freedom of Information Act show that in the last academic year, at least 50,414 penalty notices were issued due to children taken out of lessons for trips - up 25per cent on the year before. Overall, across 98 councils which responded, 86,010 fines were issued in 2014/15, up from 32,512 in 2012/13.

The hikes follow a Government crackdown, with new rules on term-time holidays introduced in 2013. Parents can now be fined £60 per pupil for taking term-time holidays and those failing to pay face prosecution and a jail sentence.

Campaigners say the reforms, meaning heads can only grant leave in exceptional circumstances, have "criminalised" parents and impact the hardest on poorer families who can't afford high holiday costs.

Parents should recognise that attending school is a priority

But ministers and headteachers argue that any school absence is detrimental to education, and even being away for just one week a year can leave a child significantly less likely to achieve good GCSE grades, having a lasting effect on their life chances.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said as well as damaging education, school absences have a "cumulative effect on the rest of the class because of the amount of time teachers are having to spend helping children who have been away."

That stands to reason. Surely it's hugely disruptive all round to have pupils missing valuable time at school. Without fines even more parents would take their children out in term-time, resulting in chaotic classroom schedules. There would be children missing practically every week, dipping in and out of school between holidays in the sun. Where does that leave the rest of the class, and the teachers trying to plan lessons?

School holidays are already long enough - it could be argued that the six-week summer break is too long, with literacy levels traditionally dipping during it - and there are plenty of them.

It's time parents thought less about holidays and instead recognised that attending school is a priority. Whether it's complying with rules about holidays, hairstyles or uniforms, supporting your child's school has got to be more beneficial than working against it.