PARENTS JOY AT HOLS IN TERM TIME VICTORY
Dad prosecuted for daughter’s Disney trip gets the case thrown out
A DAD has won a legal victory over taking his child on holiday in term time.
Jon Platt, 44, was prosecuted but magistrates threw the case out.
He said: “Parents need to decide for themselves.”
Other parents may now decide to defy schools over the rules.
A DAD who refused to pay a fine for taking his daughter on holiday during term time has won a landmark legal battle.
Jon Platt, 44, took his seven-year-old daughter to Disney World in Florida after her school refused permission for the eight-day trip.
When he insisted he would not pay a £120 fine he was ordered to attend court. His lawyer argued that the law required parents to ensure only that their children attend school “regularly” and did not restrict them from taking term-time holidays.
Magistrates decided Jon had no case to answer shortly before he was due to face trial.
The decision could have implications for thousands of parents who take their children out of school during term time.
Jon said: “I’ve had lots of messages from people asking me ‘what is the loophole here?’
“But there is no loophole, the law just says your children must attend regularly.
“I had to prove nothing – they just had to prove my child’s attendance was not regular.
“Her attendance for the whole of the last school year was nearly 94%. I don’t know where the threshold is but quite frankly parents need to decide for themselves.
“When I made the application through the school to get her time off it was refused even though her attendance at the time was 100%.” Divorced Jon, of Nettlestone, Isle of Wight, decided he would rather fork out £1,000 in solicitors’ fees than pay the £120 fine. He said: “I sent emails to the council and communicated with them that if they prosecuted me, I would defend myself.
“I was warned that if I lost I could be liable for prosecution costs and fined up to thousands of pounds but I understood the consequences. Most parents blink at the expense and pay the fine, even though a significant proportion of them are probably people whose kids actually attend school regularly.”
Jon took his two daughters, aged seven and 10, to Florida with 17 members of his family in April.
But he was only prosecuted for his younger daughter – whose identity he is protecting – because she is not privately educated.
She missed six days of school during the holiday and Jon, whose family business tackles banks over unfair charges, was fined £ 60. That doubled to £120 when he failed to pay, and he was ordered to appear before Isle of Wight magistrates.
Parliament will this month debate a petition signed by more than 100,000 people arguing for an allowance of up to two weeks’ termtime leave from school for holidays.
In 2013 Michael Gove, the then Education Secretary, scrapped a scheme letting schools give pupils 10 extra holiday days a year.
His new guidelines stated that children should be taken out of school during term time only in “exceptional circumstances”.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “Head teachers have the discretion to grant termtime holiday in exceptional circumstances, as they always have. But it is a myth that missing school even for a short time is harmless to a child’s education.”
Jon’s case has not technically set a legal precedent because decisions made by magistrates are not binding on other courts. However, other parents could use his argument as a blueprint to fight their cases.
The law says parents must ensure that their children go to school “regularly” but does not define what this means. Parents could be fined £2,500 or jailed for three months.
DAD-of-two Joe Platt won a victory for common sense by overturning a £120 fine after he took his children on holiday during term time.
Schools are right to insist that children have good attendance records. At the same time, many families can’t afford rip-off prices charged by tour companies during school holidays.
However, one man’s bold challenge will be appreciated by many mums and dads.