Missing a few days of school should not add up to a fine | Letters

Readers respond to an article by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett in which she argues that Labour should abolish fines for parents taking their children on holiday during term time I am in support of Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s suggestion that we should abolish fines for holidays in school term time (I’m all for the nanny state – but we should abolish fines for holidays in term time, 2 August). She makes all the correct and logical arguments, to which I would add one more. One of the justifications for the fines is that children miss out on valuable learning, but this is simply not the case as teachers turn to movies, games and other distractions in those last weeks of term. There is very little curriculum learning happening in those periods before the main school holidays. And from what my children describe to me, over the years this “downing of tools” seems to be happening earlier each year. The argument that taking a child out of school a week before the end of term means they miss valuable learning is, frankly, laughable.Nick JohnsonDorset It was good to read Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett writing about the draconian policy of fining parents for taking their children out of school to go on holiday.