Supreme Court to rule on term-time holidays for children in landmark case

Term-time holiday: Jon Platt with his wife Sally outside the Supreme Court
EPA
Francesca Gillett6 April 2017

Britain’s top judges will today rule on taking children out of school during term-time after a father took his daughter to Disney World.

The Supreme Court announces its decision on Thursday in a landmark case between education chiefs and father Jon Platt who took his daughter on a seven-day family trip without her headteacher’s permission.

Mr Platt had asked to take his daughter out of school for a holiday in April 2015 but it was refused.

When he defied the school and went to Orlando in Florida, he was fined but refused to pay.

Isle of Wight council prosecuted Mr Platt for refusing to pay the penalty. A magistrates’ court found there was no case to answer but the council appealed to the High Court.

High court judges cleared Mr Platt, stating he was not acting unlawfully and his daughter had a good attendance record overall.

They added that the “wider picture” of a child’s attendance should be taken into account.

But in a legal battle being closely watched by schools and parents all over the country, the council has now asked the Supreme Court justices to overturn the High Court decision, saying it raises important issues over what constitutes "regular attendance" at school.

May’s High Court ruling last year caused a surge in term-time bookings all over England.

At a hearing earlier this year the local authority, backed the Education Secretary, argued that a child's unauthorised absence from school "for even a single day, or even half a day" can amount to a criminal offence.

But a QC for Mr Platt described the submission as a new and radical interpretation of the law which was absurd and would "criminalise parents on an unprecedented scale".

James Eadie QC, for the Education Secretary, argued it would be "absurd" if parents could go on holiday with children when "the sun is out and foreign climes beckon" in a way that "undermined" Government policy on unauthorised absences.

Controversy was triggered when the Government ordered a crackdown on school absences in 2013.

New guidelines were introduced for English schools which only allow heads to permit pupils to miss classes in "exceptional circumstances".

Families complain that trips in official holiday periods are up to four times more expensive, and local councils have reported that the number of breaks in term time is increasing.

The Department for Education has told parents that their children missing just a few days in the classroom can damage GCSE results.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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