Schoolboy’s mother faces court over his holiday trip to China

A MOTHER is being hauled into court for allowing her son to go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to China.

Catherine Clifford and her husband let Matthew, 15, join a school friend who was visiting relatives on a guided tour including a visit to the Great Wall.

Matthew missed seven days at Rochester Math School in Kent and for that Catherine, herself a primary school teacher, was initially told she would be fined £60, since doubled to £120 for non payment.

Her husband was also fined because parents are treated separately but he paid up to avoid trouble.

However defiant Mrs Clifford refused and has received a letter summoning her to court on two charges, one of allowing Matthew’s absence and the other of not paying the fine.

Invaluable

The 46-year-old from Rochester let her GCSE student son go away in February to experience Chinese culture and insists it was an invaluable experience.

She said: “I asked the school if Matty could take the time off and they refused. I was shocked but had already booked and paid so I sent him off anyway.

“I couldn’t believe they wouldn’t let him do a trip that was educational.

“He’s never going to have the chance to go and live with a Chinese family in China again, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”

She claimed the school takes pupils away during term time and the cricket team recently travelled to Barbados, adding: “It’s

SHOULD PUPILS MISS SCHOOL TO GO ON HOLIDAY?

JON Platt fought and lost a long-running legal battle after taking his daughter on a term-time holiday to Disney World Florida in April 2015.

In a landmark ruling two years later, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against him and in favour of Isle of Wight local authority.

Mr Platt continues to argue for term-time absence, saying: “Taking children on holiday, even during term time, has been shown, in several studies, to correlate with better educational outcomes.

“Children who miss even 20 contradictory.” And she said her son, a star pupil, had made up for all his missed studies.

A letter from a school pastoral support officer accepted “the educational value of Matthew's holiday” but added: “We must remain consistent in following our policies.”

Parents have been fined £24million in the past three years for failing to keep children in school.

Pictures: GETTY days a year for family holidays do better than children who miss zero days for family holidays. This teacher clearly recognises the benefit to her child of travel and family holidays and it’s outrageous to punish her, or anyone else for that matter,...