Michelle Donelan Mp

Contributing to the debate on the policy that means parents can be fined for taking their children on holiday in term time. I want a smarter policy which places the trust in teachers and parents with the Head evaluating the child's age, stage of learning, absences to date and academic needs to assess if the holiday would be beneficial overall. Travel is an excellent source of education and a lot of families can not afford to go away during school holiday time, meaning that the policy often punishes the socially deprived. Teachers need to be trusted to grant a sense or not on a case by case basis after all we are trusting them to educate and safeguard our children everyday.