Sharp rise in unauthorised school absences
Term-time holidays accounted for over a quarter of unauthorised absences from schools in England in the last academic year, according to Government figures.
Almost 900,000 of children missed at least one day of school in England in the school year 2015-16, despite the threat of fines.
In 2014-15, 691,910 missed one or more session of school, rising to 801,980 in 2015-16.
Torbay, Bournemouth, Poole, Cornwall and Devon are among the areas with the highest percentage rise in holiday absence.
Across England, term-time holidays accounted for an average of 27% of all missed sessions of school. A session counts as a morning or afternoon.
Pupils in Yorkshire and The Humber and the North East of England lost the most time to holiday. The figures showed the number of absences was equivalent to 1.5 school sessions for every pupil. In Outer London the figure was equivalent to 0.75 days per pupil.
In areas such as Warrington and East Riding, family holidays made up almost half of all missed school sessions.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT told the BBC: "The system of fines is clearly too blunt an instrument and in many cases it drives a wedge between schools and families.
"The real problem is holiday pricing. Neither parents nor schools set the prices of holidays. They will both continue to be caught between a rock and hard place without some sensible government intervention."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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