THE TERM-TIME HOLIDAY BOOM

Half of pupils in some schools miss lessons for cheap getaways

UP to half of pupils in some Scottish schools are being removed for term-time holidays – with middle-class parents the worst offenders. Almost 20,000 children have been taken out of school for family trips in 2015-16, figures have shown.

Many parents choose to go away during term-time to avoid huge price rises during the 11 weeks of the school holidays – travel firms add almost £1,000 to the price of a family holiday during the summer.

This can cause disruption to children’s education – but the £60 fines English parents get for taking their children out of school do not apply in Scotland.

Our figures for absence during term-time are based on responses from more than a third of Scotland’s 32 councils under Freedom of Information legislation. The top offenders are sought-after schools in predominantly middle-class areas.

Eleanor Coner of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council said: ‘I sympathise with parents because travel companies always hoist their prices up during the school holidays, while it is also difficult for some people to get time off then. But at the same time, it is very disruptive for children. If you have a child missing two weeks of the school term, they will need to catch up.

‘Some parents argue that through the experience of being on holiday with their family, they are learning things. You can see both sides but parents are obliged to send their children to school.’

Our Freedom of Information request was

fully answered by 11 councils, which reported 19,363 children taken out of school. They were Angus, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Dundee, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire, Orkney, the Western Isles and Perth and Kinross.

Other councils could not supply the figures, did not respond or claimed the details could not be supplied as a routine Freedom of Information response.

Schools with the highest rates of absence for holidays included Kinloch Rannoch Primary in Perthshire, at 51 per cent of pupils (17 out of 32).

At Strathyre Primary in Stirlingshire, it was almost 49 per cent of pupils (19 out of 39). Drymen Primary in Stirlingshire saw just over 48 per cent of its 108 pupils take time off.

Calderwood Lodge Primary in East Renfrewshire had close to 46 per cent of its 145 pupils off. Tannadice Primary School in Angus, with 66 pupils, had just over 45 per cent taking time off.

The school rolls were taken from central Scottish Government figures where local authorities did not provide pupil numbers. Only schools with more than 30 pupils were included, where pupils had been off for at least a half-day for a family holiday.

Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘Children should be in the classroom. It sends entirely the wrong message about the value of education if parents say a child is going to Majorca rather than going to school.

‘What is more important – a passport for Majorca or a passport to their future, which is what education is?

‘If a child is taken out of school for two weeks every year for 13 years of school, that is 26 weeks or about two-thirds of a school year lost.’

A spokesman for teaching union EIS said: ‘This creates difficulties for teachers, who cannot hold back the entire class to allow one individual pupil to catch up. Parents should consider if the financial savings that can be made are worth the potential cost to their child’s education.’

An SNP spokesman said: ‘Parents should recognise disrupting learning can be damaging for a child’s education.

‘Schools will not normally allow holidays during term-time, but if this happens without authorisation it is up to education authorities to decide how to respond.’

A spokesman for local authority umbrella group Cosla said: ‘Councils do not like parents taking children out of school during term-time. The holiday period covers a fair amount of time but, that said, there is an onus on travel operators not to crank up the price during the holidays.’

A Stirling Council spokesman said: ‘We are clear about the link between good attendance and achievement by our pupils and ask parents to carefully consider the impact that holidays taken during term time can have.

‘Headteachers closely monitor attendance and work closely with parents to ensure good attendance for all our children and young people.’

An Angus Council spokesman said: ‘Parents/carers are encouraged not to arrange family holidays during term-time. Where it is unavoidable, parents/ carers must provide the headteacher with information of the dates when the child is to be absent.’

A spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council said: ‘It is a parent’s duty to ensure their schoolage children attend regularly.

‘Family holidays during termtime will be marked as an unauthorised absence and no work need be given, although schools may consider providing information about what will be covered while the pupil is absent.

‘Small schools with small pupil numbers, such as Kinloch Rannoch Primary, will always present a higher percentage of absence due to low pupil numbers.’

An East Renfrewshire Council spokesman said its attendance rates in 2014-15 were the highest in Scotland at 95.6 per cent.

‘Children should be in the classroom’