A Derbyshire mum’s petition calling for children to be allowed 10 days off school during term time without being fined has been rejected by the Government.
Ripley resident Natalie Elliott’s petition attracted more than 181,000 signatures calling for the change, with the matter debated in Parliament by MPs. It called for an end to rules which state parents are fined if children are off school without good reason.
“Formidable campaigner” Ms Elliott says the rules “criminalise parents” who believe they are making choices in the best interests of their children.
Fine amounts are set by the Government and stand at £160 per parent, per child, with this fee reducing to £80 if paid within 21 days
It was recently reported that three Derby schools were responsible for more than 1,600 unauthorised absence fines over the last three years.
Due to the huge support for the petition, it significantly passed the 100,000 signature threshold for it to be debated at Westminster.
However, during the debate Georgia Gould, Minister for School Standards, rejected the calls for the change, saying the Government “will not allow pupils to miss 10 days of school without good reason.” She said school attendance was vital and missing school without valid reason “can do serious harm”.
But MPs did support the feelings of thousands of parents saying there needed to be a rethink to the system or more needed to support families.
Robbie Moore, MP for Keighley and Ilkely, said “market forces” mean many families “simply cannot afford a holiday during school breaks”.
He said: “Attendance is, of course, important, but so are family time and the educational and recreational benefits of a good holiday. We should not be pursuing attendance for attendance’s sake, or pursuing it solely because high attendance might look good in an Ofsted inspection.”
Mr Moore suggested schools having flexibility to change term dates would “create opportunities for many parents”.
Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, said it was “absolutely wrong” for travel companies to “exploit the constraints of families with children of school age by hiking up their prices during the school holidays”.
She added: “If we say it is fine for the children of parents who can afford a holiday to skip school for 10 days, what message are we sending about the importance of being in school to the families who may never have the opportunity to go on holiday, but who often encounter significant obstacles in getting their children to school, for a wide range of reasons?”
School Standards minister Ms Gould said: “As we have heard from many, absence is one of the biggest barriers to opportunity, damaging learning, health and wellbeing, future earnings and employment. Each day of lost learning can do serious harm.
“That is why we will not allow pupils to miss 10 days of school without good reason. However, that does not mean that we are not committed to working alongside families.”
Speaking after the debate Ms Elliott, who has vowed to carry on campaigning, said she was to have a meeting with Ms Gould to further discuss how improvements can be made for parents. She said the debate saw some positive signs to take forward.
“It didn’t go perfectly but what it did do is make it known that things need to change,” she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“It was agreed the fines and prosecutions are not working – it is not acting as a deterrent. They did say the onus does need to be on the families and children’s well-being – that was really positive.”
