P-04-576 – Allow Children in Wales to Have a Family Holiday During Term Time – Petitioner to the Clerking Team. 21.01.16

Dear all,

Firstly I wanted to thank you for your support with this petition to date. I am really impressed with the system and how much we have managed to achieve so far.

I understand that following this week’s meeting, the petition is due to be closed. However, we have some concerns that the blanket ban policy is still in place in many areas, despite the Minister’s assertions that only the head teacher should decide and that this should be done on a case-by-case basis. I have attached a letter received by parents at one school. I have also just received a message from someone else which says:

In the school that my children attend everyone gets a fine if they take them out for more than 5days. At least 7 parent's that i know of have had fines in the last couple of months which is a lot as there are only 50 children at the school.

I asked whether they could request absence and the mother said:

Everyone asked for time off in a letter to the head teacher but everyone still got a fine. £60 per child per parent and as far as I'm aware this still stands in the school. But in the school a few miles away no one is getting a fine and I know children that have had 2 weeks of with no fine.

I don’t yet know the extent of this situation, therefore I would very much appreciate more time to work that out.

Kind Regards,

Helen