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A mother who is a circus performer has been fined for taking her daughter out of school for a two-week holiday in the Canary Islands in January 2024. Kelly, 32, works seven days a week and receives only January and February off. Her daughter Kaida attends a main school on Wednesdays to Fridays, while registered with other schools around the country on Mondays and Tuesdays, traveling with the circus along with Kelly. Last year the Department for Education revealed that it had issued 443,322 fines for school absence in England, up 24% on the previous year, and three times higher than in 2016-17.
Schools and councils have argued that taking children out of school during term time has a negative impact on their education. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson claimed that school absence had reached “epidemic” proportions and that fines were an important tool in holding everyone accountable. However, some parents have complained about the costs of travel during school holidays, and others say that work obligations make taking time off at these times difficult. A growing number of parents regard term-time holidays as an opportunity to take their children away.
Linda Castle, who runs a coffee roastery, and her husband Nick, took their children out of school for the first time after finding a deal that allowed them to take a two-week all-inclusive holiday in Tunisia and save almost £7,000. Although they were technically liable for £80 per child, the family only received an £80 penalty. Famers Lucy and her husband have also been fined for taking their children out of school to farm and to go on holiday.
Although fines have been raised, permitting local authorities to act more in line with each other, head teachers’ groups have called for more resources for community services to help address underlying causes of absence. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, has criticized fines as a “crude tool
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