Having children off school is no good for anyone, not the children and not the school either but with holiday prices at a premium during school holidays it’s often the only way some families can get a cheap break. However many head teachers are instantly taking advantage of a law change allowing them to set their own holidays, and this should bring down the amount of absences and could even level out the price of holidays too.
In 2014 a law was passed allowing head teachers to set their own holiday time and this rule has now come into place with head teachers taking full advantage immediately!
The issue of term time has been a contentious one for a while now, since fines were brought in for unauthorised absences and got a lot of media attention. It’s hoped that these new staggered holidays, as schools set their own dates could mean a levelling out of holiday prices, but that could see off peak breaks increase slightly in price too, while term time breaks may be reduced slightly.
Since the fines were brought in more than 60,000 parents have been fined for removing children from school during term time breaks, but often the difference in the holiday cost is still worth the cost of the fine. It’s been a paradox for the industry and for schools for many years now, but as we see the knock on effects of these new rules coming into place all that could change.
Almost 70% of head teachers intend on setting their own term times in the coming year, but that could also cause problems in other ways, especially if parents have children at different schools and they choose different breaks. Only time will tell how the new rules will pan out, but this coming year should be a teller.
By: Kath Cross
