Latest figures revealed that a fifth of primary-school pupil absences in the last year were due to parents taking their children on holiday.
Education director Justin Donovan has now branded the practice as ‘unacceptable’ and said that his department was considering changing term time dates, which could reduce the number of pupil absences due to holidays.
Following the Education director’s comments, parents took to social media to vent their anger. Almost 100 people posted on the JEP’s Facebook page, with many saying that parents should be given greater flexibility to take their children out of school.
Mother-of-two Jodie Booth, from St Helier, recently took her family on a holiday two days before February half-term to bring down the costs.
‘The holiday companies are ripping families off in the school holidays. It’s so unfair. They are even putting prices up two or three days before the school holidays now as they know that a lot of families take their kids out just before they break-up.
‘Check out a flight to Gatwick for February half-term next year. It is £39 one-way on the Tuesday, just before they break up, then it is £150 from Wednesday all the way through the holidays! That is £1,200 return for a family of four just to get to Gatwick. It is an absolute joke.’
Read more in Saturday’s JEP.
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