Supreme Court ruling on school term holidays - NUT response

Commenting on the ruling against the parent Jon Platt, who had won earlier legal battles against a £120 fine after a taking his child on holiday without permission, Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the NUT, the largest teachers’ union, said:

“Parents generally do all they can to keep children in school and teachers want them to do that. However there will be occasions when families will have  a planned holiday in term time. This can be for a many reasons such as family commitments or parents unable to take leave in the school holidays.

Fining parents is entirely the wrong route to be going down. Many parents will be able to afford the fine and it will not be a deterrent. This is yet another example of top down measures being imposed on schools causing unnecessary tensions between head teachers and families.