Parents CAN take their kids out of school for holidays during term time after dad wins landmark case at the High Court

Parents CAN take their kids out of school for holidays during term time after dad wins landmark case at the High Court

A DAD who refused to pay a fine for taking his daughter to Disney World during school term time has won his High Court case.

The landmark ruling opens the possibility that parents will be able to take their children on holiday during school time without the fear of being fined.

Outside court Jon Platt declared: "It is a victory. It's parents who should decide what's best for their children."

But education chiefs expressed their "disappointment" at the decision and vowed to fight the legislation.

The 44-year-old had refused to pay the £120 fine he was slapped with in April last year for taking his seven-year-old daughter on an eight-day jolly to Florida.

He was given a second penalty for taking her to Lapland at Christmas and when he again refused to pay up the case went to court.

Jon paid nearly £15,000 in legal fees to fight the decision after arguing his daughter's attendance record was otherwise excellent.

The High Court ruled Isle of Wight council should repay those costs.

He added: "I am obviously hugely relieved. I know that there was an awful lot riding on this - not just for me but for hundreds of other parents."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/7148439/Its-not-about-the-money-its-the-principle-Dad-fighting-to-overturn-120-term-time-holiday-fine-says-13k-legal-fees-are-worth-it-if-he-wins.html?CMP=spklr-_-Editorial-_-FBPAGE-_-TheSun-thesun-_-20160513-_-News-_-468893250-_-Imageandlink



What do others think? Should children be allowed to miss school for cheaper, family holidays?

I used to be a school governor and we had this problem constantly raised at every meeting. A child gains so, so much during family holidays - childhood family memories that last forever. Missing a week or two of school is totally worth it and it may stop those ghastly holiday hotels and holiday companies from sticking up to £3,000 on the price of a two week holiday becaeue it falls in a school holiday

It's ok for teachers to strike and for the kids to loose a few days education, do they get fined and if not why not?

Good point Nicko and no, they don't get fined.

We always took my son out for a week at the end of term so we could go for a 2 week holiday.
I figured that he learned more in that 2 weeks than he would have when the school was winding up anyway.

I agree also with what Nicko said.

DOWN HERE,  parents can sometimes arrange to take their children off for for a week or two holidays, when the only time available is during term...

WHERE I think they might have some problems is around exam time, or maybe if there was an excursion that kid was looking forward to ?

AND, of course, it could be detrimental to the childrens' overall efucation if the parents were making it a regular occurrence -- rather than only a couple of times over the 13 years of their total school attendance..          

AND THEN,  there's those parents who take children away from the local education system for a year or three, like when they might be on a work/research assignment to remote areas, or when they decide to sail around the world -- except in those cases, I think that might be more for a discussion on home teaching, and distance/remote area education --  where the parents are expected to maintain a certain level of education for their children...