Term-time holidays

[ICHM]

@Valvebloke

I’m with the Supreme Court on this

bbc.co.uk

Term-time holiday dad loses court battle - BBC News

The Supreme Court backs a council against a dad who refused to pay a fine for taking his child to Florida.

Compulsory education is A Good Thing. When it was introduced in 1880 a lot of poor families said it was unfair on them since they couldn’t afford not to send their kids up chimneys/out into the fields/into domestic service. They needed them to work to put bread on the table. But the state insisted, saying that if going to school was optional then market forces would mean that poorer kids wouldn’t get the education they needed.

Now someone is arguing that he can’t afford to go to Disney World unless he goes during term time, and his child does go to school quite often (more than 90% of the time they’re supposed to). If any of my staff had been taking one day a fortnight off I think I’d have wanted to know why. I’d have accepted illness as a reason, but not much else I think. Turning up when you’re supposed to is a good habit for kids to get into.

VB

I’m not. Education is about many things, not just school. Looking at just school is such a narrow view. All that will happen is that GPs will be writing more letters as suddenly little Johnny will be sick/depressed/bullied etc… and will have to miss two weeks school.

At the age of 6, is a week or two really going to make any difference? At GCSE or A level years, maybe, but not the other years.