[arista]

Yes you got Lucky with a soft Judge

Reports now are saying Conservatives will change
the Law getting rid of this grey area.


[A man who refused to pay a fine for taking
his daughter out of school for a
holiday has won a High Court
ruling in his favour.
Jon Platt was fined by the
Isle of Wight Council after he took
his family on a trip to Florida
last April without permission from the school.
When he returned from holiday he
was fined £60, which was then doubled
due to his refusal to pay.........]


http://news.sky.com/story/1695495/fa...chool-holidays

[Mokka]

Good he refused to pay and fought it. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard

[anne666]

Clearly his perceived quality of holiday is more important than his daughter's education, which is funded by taxpayers. Did he make sure she caught up on everything she'd missed?
Children already have at least 3 months annual school holidays, bloody idiot.
Selfish and irresponsible parents like him are an on-going disruptive problem for teachers and pupils alike. The law needs to be watertight and put a stop to this nonsense.

[Mokka]

Originally Posted by anne666

Clearly his perceived quality of holiday is more important than his daughter's education, which is funded by taxpayers. Did he make sure she caught up on everything she'd missed?
Children already have at least 3 months annual school holidays, bloody idiot.
Selfish and irresponsible parents like him are an on-going disruptive problem for teachers and pupils alike. The law needs to be watertight and put a stop to this nonsense.

If you read his comments in the article he did indeed make sure she was caught up on her school work. And why is sitting in a desk being told about the world better than experiencing it???

Not every parent in the world is going to get there 2-3 weeks of vacation during their children's school holiday... and a responsible family should have the option to make responsible choices with and for their children

[VanessaFeltz.]

Originally Posted by Mokka

If you read his comments in the article he did indeed make sure she was caught up on her school work. And why is sitting in a desk being told about the world better than experiencing it???

Not every parent in the world is going to get there 2-3 weeks of vacation during their children's school holiday... and a responsible family should have the option to make responsible choices with and for their children

I agree

[joeysteele]

Good one and I am pleased for him.

[Glenn.]

Originally Posted by anne666

Clearly his perceived quality of holiday is more important than his daughter's education, which is funded by taxpayers. Did he make sure she caught up on everything she'd missed?
Children already have at least 3 months annual school holidays, bloody idiot.
Selfish and irresponsible parents like him are an on-going disruptive problem for teachers and pupils alike. The law needs to be watertight and put a stop to this nonsense.

He did make sure she'd caught up on school work. I wouldn't say he's a selfish and irresponsible parent. Good on him. I don't see how the education system can fine parents for taking their children on holiday but teachers are OK to go on strike as and when they please.

I fully respect him for refusing to pay and I'm sure they all had a wonderful time in Florida and I know they paid significantly less for it in April as opposed to peak times like July/August.

[Shaun]

The only issue with this story is travel agencies being allowed to get away with doubling and tripling non-term prices. There is no practical reason for it, it's just pure greed and exploitation.

[AnnieK]

Life experience is every bit as valuable as classroom education. I agree with Shaun though, until travel companies stop exploiting families this will continue to happen. The £60 fine is far less than the 200% increase in family holiday costs during school holidays.

[DemolitionRed]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

Life experience is every bit as valuable as classroom education. I agree with Shaun though, until travel companies stop exploiting families this will continue to happen. The £60 fine is far less than the 200% increase in family holiday costs during school holidays.

Good point!

When they initially brought in this new law where schools could fine parents for taking their kids out of school during term time, the government reassured everyone that they would put stop on travel agents doubling holiday prices during school holidays. This never happened and the consequences of that broken promise is, many families can't afford to take their children abroad unless they do so during term time.

Good for him. I'm so glad he won this case.

[Kazanne]

I am so glad he won his case,the ridiculous prices you have to pay in the school holidays is ridiculous and while they are whinging on about how wrong it is that kids lose out on their education,they don't care about that when they have strikes and PD days etc,so imo as long as your child has good attendance and keeps up with their work,we should be able to take them on holiday whenever we deem is right ,a holiday in itself is an educational curve and valuable time spent together as a family,so kudos to this guy.

[user104658]

Kid is going to learn a lot more experiencing a different culture for two weeks (and yes, the US counts as a different culture!) than they will in two weeks of primary school.

I'd say it's a mistake if the child is already behind or struggling with their school work, but other than that, it's not going to be an issue.

[Jake.]

it's 2 weeks, it really is not that important

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Mokka

If you read his comments in the article he did indeed make sure she was caught up on her school work. And why is sitting in a desk being told about the world better than experiencing it???



Not every parent in the world is going to get there 2-3 weeks of vacation during their children's school holiday... and a responsible family should have the option to make responsible choices with and for their children

[billy123]

The Headmaster of our local School at the time asked me for proof when we took my daughter/stepdaughter out of school for 4 days to travel to Scotland to let her Mourn with her family and attend her Grandads funeral.
My reply was long winded and not very pleasant but he didnt ask again. Some things in life are far more important.
Education doesnt start and stop inside the School gates far from it.

Family,Travel and life experience far out weigh missing 2-3 weeks of any robotic poorly funded treadmill that is intended to churn out corporate money motivated clones.
I would rather turn out a free happy young adult than a government trained obedient one ready to serve,obey,breed and die.

Good on this fella for being willing to take it all the way.

[Crimson Dynamo]

I would fine him for going to Florida



tacky

[billy123]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

I would fine him for going to Florida



tacky

[bots]

The farce of it all is that those prosecuting wanted ONE DAY to be considered persistent absence. Amazing. For the government to say that missing one day of school is putting a child at a disadvantage is just ludicrous.

When I was at school, we had an extended period of teacher strikes, we literally lost weeks of formal education, in the year we were sitting formal exams. Did exams results change? Not one jot. I and most of my friends went on to further education and obtained degrees etc.

These people really need to get a life.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by bobnot

The Headmaster of our local School at the time asked me for proof when we took my daughter/stepdaughter out of school for 4 days to travel to Scotland to let her Mourn with her family and attend her Grandads funeral.
My reply was long winded and not very pleasant but he didnt ask again. Some things in life are far more important.
Education doesnt start and stop inside the School gates far from it.

Family,Travel and life experience far out weigh missing 2-3 weeks of any robotic poorly funded treadmill that is intended to churn out corporate money motivated clones.
I would rather turn out a free happy young adult than a government trained obedient one ready to serve,obey,breed and die.

Good on this fella for being willing to take it all the way.

Have you been cloned from TS you sound just like him

The rule is ludicrous,that said when there was no rule some families as usual took the piss and got the rule changed for everyone, if the airlines, holiday companies were brought into line over their excessive pricing in the school holidays none of this would be necessary.