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by prestwichfocus on 26 July, 2016
The Prestwich and Whitefield Guide reports that families with pupils at schools in the Bury local authority area are not to be fined for taking their children on term time holidays, if attendance is otherwise good.
Bury Council has announced it is making the move after father Jon Platt won a landmark ruling against the Isle of Wight authority over term-time holidays earlier this year. A Bury Council spokesman said: “The High Court Case in May means that it is not legally sound at the moment to issue fines for short absences, where attendance is otherwise good”. The case is due to go to appeal and we await the outcome of that process and updated guidance from Government.
The Council stresses that even though they will not now face financial penalties, parents should still not be taking their children out of school for holidays.
Figures released by the Department for Education show that the number of penalty notices issued to parents in Bury for taking their children out of class rose from 647 in 2011/12 to 1,137 in 2014/15.
The Department for Education spokesman said: “The rules are perfectly clear — children should not be taken out of school without good reason. The evidence shows that every extra day of school missed can affect a pupil’s chances of achieving good GCSEs, which has a lasting effect on their life chances.
Previously Liberal Democrats have called for more flexibility in term time holidays, but we need to balance this flexibility with ensuring the best chances for all children.
We would be interested in hearing your views!
3 Comments
I have just got home today to a letter, saying we have been fined for taking our son (who never has time off) out of school the last week before the summer break , It is a Bury school so i am wondering where i stand????When i took his teacher her gift on his last day she told me he had been a lot of help with all the cleaning ect they have to do, so other than sports day and leavers assembly and all the films they seem to watch in the last week, what did my son miss?? He is leaving for high school and had done his SATS, and it was our first holiday in 8 years , one we could never have afforded had we gone a week later.
This clearly lies with the government and the holiday package providers to come to some arrangement around finances, many families (especially over the last few year) have found purchasing food difficult never mind a holiday, holiday prices can double in the summer months when children are on school holidays as everyone has been aware for many years.I have recently been on holiday with my grandchildren who reside in Scotland their school holidays begin earlier than the rest of the UK, the holiday was far less expensive then the coming week when most children commence their school holidays. It is time the the tourist companies were brought to account this hits many people on low budgets, yet again families who are not in the wealth bracket are hit. Norma
Just a further thought perhaps the tourist companies should be heavily fined not the families who take holidays at the end of term time.