“I booked my wedding in Las Vegas last august just for a wk in Oct this yr, i have given my 13yr old daughters school 7months notice only to be told they will not authorise it as it is in the 1st 6wks of the new term (we go IN the 6th wk). My daughter has never been abroad before and yes it is a holiday but its also her mums wedding. I found out today that after 2wks of walkin the 45min walk to school in the last 2wks of term it was so i was savin money to pay the £50 fine im goin to get now if thats not heartbreakin i dont know wat is”

“I agree children should not be allowed out of school in final year and sat times . However children learn from all different experiences and my children have learnt so much from holidays abroad about different cultures .Parents in this economy both have to work and family time is so valuable a lot of parents cannot afford the extra few hundred pound that it costs to go in holidays. i have always taken my children out of school and they now have jobs or uni its about common sense which a lot of people lack and ensuring that you are aware of what your children are missing and help them catch up with anything they will have missed. I do think people are being a little naive in thinking that the education children get in schools is everything parents can give their children valuable education on manners values and life .”

“Interesting comment GH.
I'd agree with you on your first point that the price of holidays is determined by supply and demand. No government would ever intervene to reduce the price of holidays in August because it would put some holiday operators out of business. Most or all of their profit is made in the summer holiday period. A lot of them actually make a loss in the winter months.
On your second point, which seems to be a point of view supported by the majority of posts here, the £50 fine is NOT a way of raising additional revenue for the council. By law local councils may only keep the administrative costs of levying the fine. Anything left over must be sent to central government funds - so there should be no net gain for the council.
If anyone knows anything to the contrary, shouldn't they report it? The council could then be prosecuted.”

“I work full time and my wife works 18 hrs a week, we are both now in our 40's and safe all our spare money each week to put aside for 1 two week break by coach to Spain with my 2 young children aged 12 and 10. Am I now to be punished becuase I don't earn enough money or have been left a legacy of thousands, so I can't have a break which both I and my wife deserve for the hard work we put in on the other 50 weeks of the year. It is the only time that we as a family get time to spend together without the pressures of normal life. Now the council want to penailse me to sch an extent that not only will my children miss out on travelling abroad and meeting people from other countires but we as a family will miss out on this valuable and precious time together. Fantastic. NOT”

“I read with interest the points raised on this story and have two comments

1/ The prices of holidays are, like many things sold, set based on supply and demand and for anyone to ask why the prices during the school holidays are higher it is simply because there is a greater demand. This is balanced by the fact that, in other parts of the year the prices are lower to attract passengers out of season when the demand is lesser and if travel operators were forced to offer cheaper prices during the school summer holidays they would then not be able to offer the cheaper prices to attract bookings outside of those peak periods. The same answer is applicable if one were to ask why holidays on the Mediterranean in February and November are much much cheaper than those in July and August. Quite simply not many people want to go in February and November so the price level is reduced to attract custom and increased in July and August to cover the cost of those reductions. Indeed if the penalties for taking children out of school during term time were increased to such an extent that nobody dare do it (i.e. fines of thousands of pounds or jail sentences) such would be the effect on the bookings outside of the school holidays together with the demand for and consequent shortage of holidays during the school holidays that the prices for the latter would literally go through the roof and would only be affordable by the very rich. This would be necessary to balance the books for the tour operators who would be left with many empty plane seats and hotel rooms during the periods outside of the school holidays and would have to offer very attractive prices to attract bookings. Failure to make the necessary increases duirng the school holiday period would almost certainly result in the tour operator going out of business.

2/ And this is the more important point. Many people appear to be under the impression that the fines are being levied by the ERYCC because they are concerned about the education of the children in the East Riding when realistically they are, as one of the other readers pointed out, no more than another stealth task or to put it simply a way for the Council to take more money from the residents. Just like the proposed parking fees in East Riding villages it is an easy way of making money and people should not be under the misconception that it is worth paying £50.00 to save several hundred on holidays as once the fine scheme is accepted you can be sure that each year the fine will gradually increase as the ERYCC see it as a sure fire way of raising funds. The resident parking scheme in Beverley which, a little over a decade ago, cost £5.00 (which was promoted at the time as a nominal charge to cover administration costs) has increased in that time by around 700 percent to its current level and I feel that these fines would almost certainly following the same path.

As already pointed out by two readers, little work is done at schools during the last few weeks of term so why should families either pay more for their holiday (or simply go without a holiday) all so that their child or children can attend school to play games or watch DVD¿s. If the Council are seriously concerned about education they should divert their attention to those pupils who, in some cases with their parents permission, regularly miss school for no real reason but that is unlikely as that would not be such a ¿nice little earner¿ as issuing fines to those easy targets who probably only miss one or two weeks in the whole school year.”

“'Gifted child register?'
I would have thought it self-explanatory, Geoff. It's a list of children who have done exceptionally well academically.
Apparently a child is no longer gifted if they have too many days off at some schools in Hull - though they might well go on to get 12 GCSEs, 5 A-levels and a couple of degrees.
Sounds very petty doesn't it?”

“'Gifted child register!' What's that all about?”

“My husband and I work full time for the same large establishment. It is very difficult to get any annual leave granted together, but impossible for us both to be granted school holidays with so many staff applying for the same leave. We do not have a holiday every year, and avoid S.A.T's and exam periods. But we believe our children do need to spend time with us as a family too. This is going to cause further class segregation as the high paid earners and wealthy will be able to afford the charges, whilst hard working families on lower incomes wont. It's just another way of the Council being greedy. I'm disgusted and feel I'm being punished for working to support my family. I deserve a break with my family, as does my husband!”

“I hope that this does not apply to the troops serving in Afghanistan coming home for a few days R&R.
I suppose the education authority could write to the Ministry of defence and ask the war be stopped during school breaks so the father/mother could be with their family.

I think the University graduate who comes up with these ideas should serve a term in a war zone to enhance their considerable knowledge of the world and the way it functions”

“Parents also be please be warned.
I have seen some comments posted here that state 'our child is on the gifted child register', and parents should be proud of such achievments.
Our child was also on the register, but was struck off due to her medical absences
(Though not put to her in those terms).
The school have warned us about school term hols.
As stated previously we never have taken out and never will.
My point, parents can be accussed of allowing chidren to truant, or take term hols, even when proofs to the contrary are tendered.
If parents actually do take their children out, then they will needd to prepare themselves for far reaching consequenses.
I also wish to add that I do appreciate the difficulties parents may face in the price hike by holiday providers make during school terms.
Once again, please think twice, and consider those who are suffering for not actually taking their child out.
Martin HULL.”