The Sun – A Mossley, Greater Manchester,family have been fined £120 for taking their eight year old son out of school for the last two weeks of the year to attend his grandmother’s wedding in Crete.
The boy’s mother Vicky Armitage was s told the family occasion, at which eight-year-old Toby was ring bearer, was not considered an “exceptional circumstance”.
“My family consider a wedding very important” she said “My Mother lives in Crete, I get to see her once maybe twice a year, if she can come to us. This was a very big deal for us”.
The family received letters informing them of the fines issued for the two week break three months after their return on July 28.
The family must pay the fine before November 24 when it will double to £240.
A local authority spokesperson said: “Reducing absence from school is a key priority, both nationally and locally, because missing school damages a pupil’s attainment levels and disrupts school routines.
“For these reasons, we have adopted the powers given under Section 23 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 to be used as a sanction when parents do not fulfil their responsibility to ensure their children attend school regularly”.
Parents are only allowed to let their children miss school if they are sick or have received advanced ‘exceptional circumstances’ permission from the headteacher.
Almost 20,000 people were taken to court in 2015 after their children missed school without permission – an increase of more than a fifth, resulting to 50,414 fines.
