Should parents take their children out of school during school time?

I argued on BBC Breakfast that they should not. I cited the example of ‘Katie’ (not the pupils’ real name) who had missed weeks of school because her parents were taking her out regularly of school during term time, going on cheap holidays. They lied to the school and said that she was ill. There was nothing the school could do. Katie missed lots of valuable lesson time and did not complete her coursework as a result, the holiday time was wasted time for her. Other people emailed the show to point out that teachers waste valuable time helping pupils who have been away on holiday catch-up when they could be helping other pupils, which is certainly true.

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