Jon Platt won a high court ruling to take his daughter on holiday during school term, against current legislation. We've asked four people for their view.


Alex WilkinsonAlex Wilkinson, Cumbria primary head teachers association:  I think head teachers should be allowed more flexibility over the issue.

The difficulty for a lot of parents is that they can’t take their holidays any other time.

And sometimes a holiday with parents can be a really valuable experience.

A lot of families would not be able to afford a family holiday during school holidays because it is high season, but they can in low season.

Before I retired as a head, in nearly all cases I was able to authorise leave for the pupil.

In the last couple of years, the law has changed, there is still some flexibility, but it is much more difficult to justify allowing it.

Primary school heads want to work with families and parents. This is one of those situations where the law is putting a strain on that relationship and putting heads and parents in an antagonistic relationship.

I personally think that the government should allow more flexibility and give the heads the options that they used to have to authorise absence when it is appropriate.

I have asked for examples when heads should be able to allow absences but no-one is prepared to provide a list. It has to be handled on a case by case basis.


Irene Roberts-GreenIrene Roberts-Green, former headteacher, Bishop Harvey Goodwin School, Carlisle:  I did encounter this. There were always people who wanted to take their children away on holidays and once they had decided there was very little you could do.

Usually when they told you the holiday was already booked. You could talk to the parents but often you were banging on a locked door.

Then there were children from some ethnic backgrounds who were taken away for six weeks to visit relatives in another country. That’s very important to them, but they would miss a tremendous amount of education, and there’s no way teachers could make that up.

With the curriculum so packed these days, children who are taken out of school do miss out. Often teachers put together a package of work for them to do when they are off, but that’s a lot of extra work for teachers, who are working hard enough already.

Some parents think that because children sit exams at secondary school it’s more important later on. But at any time it’s important. If you watch the progress a child makes up to the age of seven it’s phenomenal.

We need to do something about the holiday companies that charge three to four times the price during school holidays. As a country we should be valuing education a lot more. I don’t think the court judgement will be helpful at all.


Suzie HaymanSuzie Hayman, Cumbrian trustee, Family Lives:  The figures are undeniable, that the more children are out of school the worse their attainment will be.

It is worse for their social lives too – they are away from their friends, and when they are falling behind them they are alienated from them, which can lead to more truancy and more problems.

But there are some families that are held together by holidays. If parents are separated, it could be the only time one parent gets to see the children. Or there could be relatives in Australia are getting married, or children going to a funeral or seeing someone for the last time.

So there needs to be some flexibility. It ought to be at the discretion of heads, to be decided on a case by case basis rather than with a blanket ban.

The holiday firms put up their prices for the school holidays at a disgusting rate. Some families find it works out cheaper to take children out of school and pay the fine than to pay the premium.

If someone is missing school a day every week then there is a problem, and we need to be sitting down with the family. There can be situations where there is a disconnect between the parents and the school, or where the parents don’t value education.


Lynn HarrisonLynn Harrison, headteacher of Irthington Village Primary School, chairperson of Brampton Area Schools Consortium:  From the parents’ point of view they can get a much cheaper holiday if they take their children out of school. 

But the simple fact is that there are 190 days in the school year. That leaves 175 days for holidays.

The Department for Education is very clear that we are not allowed to authorise holidays in term time unless there are exceptional circumstances, like a wedding or a funeral. We have got one pupil taking a day off to attend their mum’s graduation – that is an exceptional circumstance.

With the curriculum now, what we might have expected of a child at 10 years we are now expecting at eight or nine. If a pupil misses two weeks of a topic it may not be revisited until the end of the year because there’s simply too much else to fit in.

We write to all parents at the beginning of the year urging them to consider their child’s education. If the message given is that it’s okay to miss school for a holiday, is it okay to miss school at other times?

A fine of £60 is nowhere near the amount parents will save from the travel companies. If it was £60 a day it might be more effective. But I would hate to get to that point. A good relationship with parents is essential to build on the strengths of your school.