Pupils given an extra week off

PUPILS in Sussex are to be given an extra week off school in the autumn to help parents with the cost of expensive holidays.

Brighton and Hove city council is to double the week-long autumn halfterm break for local state schools from October next year.

It hopes changing the holiday timetable will allow parents to take cheaper breaks outside the peak summer period. Holidays during school breaks cost more, but parents face fines if they take their children away during term time.

Jon Platt, from the Isle of Wright, won a High Court ruling after he refused to pay a fine for taking his sixyear-old daughter out of school for a family trip to Florida.

Brighton and Hove will not cut the number of teaching days but adjust the start and finish of the three main terms.

Tom Bewick, chairman of Brighton’s children, young people and skills committee, said: “The introduction of a new week’s holiday in term time is a positive step and I hope addresses the behaviour of travel companies who whack up prices.”