Following a recent court ruling Staffordshire County Council have issued temporary new guidance to schools and families around term time holidays
Influenced by the case of an Isle of Wight father who took his daughter out of school for a family holiday, from September Staffordshire parents will now be fined if their child is out of school for 10 days or more.
This change in policy will remain in place until a full-scale review of guidance is completed, and the Isle of Wight legal case is resolved by the Supreme Court.
Head teachers will continue to determine all requests for leave in term time, and will only approve those that are for ‘exceptional circumstances.’
Cases where a child has more than 10 days of unauthorised absence over two half terms in a row will be referred to the county council by schools.
The news comes after the Isle of Wight case, where a father successfully challenged a fine for unauthorised absence on the basis of his child’s previously good attendance record. This case has now been referred to the Supreme Court.
Councillor Ben Adams, the county council’s education lead, said the county council was a “common-sense approach” in light of recent rulings.
Ben said: “We recognise that the recent ruling in the Isle of Wight case has led to some uncertainty for parents. In order to give them some clarity, we are taking a common-sense approach while we take a closer look at our guidance.
“We are clear that there is a direct link between regular attendance and improved performance in the classroom, and parents have a duty to work closely with schools to ensure their child attends regularly. However, we also understand that with the rising cost of holidays and work commitments, taking holidays out of term time isn’t always possible for a lot of parents.
“Some authorities have suspended fines altogether; we didn’t think this was right for Staffordshire as we have seen the majority of parents responding well to the rules and not taking their children out of term time. We want to ensure parents—and head teachers—have as much clarity as possible while the review takes place, so they can continue to ensure their children stay in school and get the most from their education.”
