The Supreme Court today (Thursday 6 April 2017) announced
its ruling in the case of Isle
of Wight Council v Platt.
Malcolm Trobe, Interim General Secretary of the Association of
School and College Leaders, said: “Today’s ruling brings to
an end a period of uncertainty and clarifies that ‘regular
attendance’ means in accordance with the school’s rules. We agree
with that decision.
“It is vitally important that children attend school as close to
100 per cent of the time as possible. Research clearly shows that
even short breaks can have a detrimental impact on educational
attainment. Holidays should be taken in the 13 weeks that are
allocated for that purpose each year, not in term time.
“We were pleased that the Supreme Court also highlighted the fact
that children missing school can be disruptive. Teachers have to
help these children catch up and the more pupils who are absent
the greater the disruption.
“Nobody wants to see parents being fined, much less taken to
court. Schools want to work in partnership with parents, not in
conflict with them. We would urge parents to discuss any requests
for absences with their school, but to bear in mind that
headteachers may only grant leave in exceptional circumstances,
and that this is unlikely to extend to term-time holidays.
“The majority of parents support the attendance policies of their
schools and do not take their children out of school for
term-time holidays.”
