Give parents a break

Any parent whose child persistently misses school for no good reason should have the book thrown at them. Preferably a large encyclopedia.

The key words are “for no good reason’’ .

Family holidays are a good reason.

The government and councils’ criminalisation and demonisation of parents who take children out of school for holidays is an outrage.

Truancy must be tackled but if the government was serious about tackling the issue it would make the disgraceful profiteering by the leisure industry illegal.

I’ve just returned from what is probably the last family holiday before my daughter begins school.

It cost us £400 for four nights. If we had gone a week later (when the schools were on holiday it would have cost us a staggering £1,300.

And the weather was worse that week too!

Please (unless you want to make my blood boil) don’t tell me it’s just supply and demand. I could accept that if parents weren’t forced into a limited period when they can go on holiday.

With his usual levelheaded pragmatism city council leader John Holdich has said he will look at changing city school term times in an attempt to alleviate the problem.

I applaud his initiative but fear it will have little effect.

Simply, this is bad law which is why so many decent law abiding citizens choose to ignore it.

I know several Peterborough parents who accept the £60 per parent fines because it stillworks out much more affordable to holiday during term times.

And these people are good, caring parents who want the best for their children not least in their education.

I have huge sympathy with city mum Julie Darcy who was fined after her daughter was ill.

The council’s head of school improvement said Miss Darcy had been given “every opportunity’’ to prove her daughter was ill.

What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

The principle of this law is wrong but equally so is the haphazard application of it.

It is at a head teachers’ discretion whether or not to authorise term time absence.Hardly a uniform policy.

I am a passionate believer in education and I intend to ingrain in my children the value of a good education and the importance of school attendance.

I have no doubt the most important single factor influencing my children’s education will be me and their mum.

Not a government minister, not faceless bureaucrats, not even the talented and dedicated teachers who I hope my children will be lucky enough to have.

I shall hesitate before deciding to take my children out of school in term time, but I’m not ruling it out.