Today the Supreme Court ruled that parents can be prosecuted for taking their children out of school without permission.
Commenting on this decision, Rory Broomfield, Director of The Freedom Association, said:
“This marks a sad but longstanding trend that is seeing the state – rather than the parent – become perceived as responsible for the well-being of children.
“The school term is fixed but family life is not. Increasingly, parents cannot fit around the pre-determined and often rigid timetables set out by schools due to changing work practices and life circumstances.
“Although children should receive schooling, it should also be recognised that to threaten parents with prosecution for taking their children out of school for a holiday does more harm than good.
“To potentially prosecute parents that choose to spend time with their children when the state wants the child to be elsewhere lacks both compassion and common sense.
“It illustrates that the state has fallen behind with the reality of parenthood and real life. Something that urgently needs to be readdressed.”