In the UK we used to get up to 10 discretionary days a year to take your children out of school, often used for holidays. Now it's at the Heads discretion and really only for things like funerals because apparently 'schoolkids get 12 weeks they can choose from' and more time off affects their education.
WRONG! children of dual working families get the same 4 weeks off you get, the rest is extortionate childcare (which is educational based btw). 2 weeks are allocated to Christmas (Where I work after children are in bed - NO BREAK). That leaves 2 weeks, most of which you use for when you're children are ill from school because you don't get paid for that!. When one of you is a PhD (GTRA) even worse, you're lucky to get any real break at all. I have a small slot next year where I could fit in 10 days holiday; away away from the desk, emails, the housework etc but it overlaps school term by 3 days. The headteacher of the school is querying why as a PhD I can't take all my holidays over the summer (my data analysis time before write up that's why!) because she's doing an MSc and they are off the whole summer. Well whoop de do for you. It's not so much the fine that bothers me (£240! no small amount when most of my stipend goes on after-school childcare) but it being issued under the 'anti-social behaviour act' law. I'm anti-social and a law breaker to want a well deserved break. Surely my children should be allowed to claim back the 8 weeks holiday and 3 hours per evening care they are in because we've done what the gov said was right and got jobs (well GTRA but same thing) and are now being punished. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I think that children (especially younger children) learn more while on holidays than in school. Moreover, some children have families abroad so they have the right to spend time with their grandparents and cousins. On top of everything, tickets are ridiculously expensive during school holidays, almost as travel companies see families with children as prey.

I remember when I was a child we used to get three months off during the summer ( we didn't have mid-term holidays), and because my mother was a teacher, we would spend most of this time on the beach. I swear, this is the only good memory of my childhood.

I feel your pain.

Dr Jeckyll to have those memories of those long summer with your mother must be lovely :D I seriously worry about what I have subjected my children to having to put them in childcare from 8 months old :( just to have a basic standard of living. It would be our first foreign holiday in 4 years so it;s not he price, I don't mind saving to go away it's the principle! I want and need to spend quality time with my children away from the house where I'd inevitably check emails, work on the PhD and clean, oh and go on social media lol. I actually have more free time on my PhD than when I was a teacher (I say teacher I was a vocational trainer - 9-5 hours 4 weeks holiday) in some respects as that was really all work work work!!!

While I sympathise to an extent, I think it's worth considering the plight of kids who do not come from backgrounds as supportive as the one you are creating for yours. Clearly, you understand the importance of education and are not likely to allow your children to fall behind because of time missed from school, but that is not something that all parents would do.

A close friend of mine comes from a background where education wasn't as valued as it was in my household. As far as I can ascertain his parents took the view that school was attended only for the minimum number of years and then you got out and got a proper job. That perspective is not in itself detrimental, but this was before the days of holiday regulations and they plucked him out of school for a two week family holiday right in the middle of the O-Level/GCSE period. As a consequence, he left school with very few complete qualifications, despite showing the potential to achieve them. It has had a detrimental effect on his career and, in my view, his confidence when it comes to applying for things. Had the regulations been in place at the time he would have been protected from the whims of his parents and would likely have ended up with a very different career path.

Your children have the privilege of parents who understand the importance of education; sadly, too many do not, and this legislation perhaps gives their education some degree of assurance.

I think it's also worth considering the POV of school teachers. If all parents were plucking their kids out of school for whatever reason, it would be likely to create an extra workload for them in having to deal with either catch up, or not being able to proceed with the curriculum as the class's knowledge would be at different stages. That doesn't seem fair on either the teachers or the kids who are present throughout.

Yeah I get tha but there needs to be a sensible balance. The policy itself is not about education and improving attendance because all that happens is you still take the time off but just pay £60 per parent per child for the privilege and the money doesn't even go back into education! It's just a stealth tax. If it was about education it would also apply to private education (who incidentaly get longer holidays). I think if both parents work/study and your children get less than the 12 Weeks's because of it you should be able to claim up to 10 days back outside of exam tim if they have good attendance overall. I don't think that's unreasonable.

The government are idiots over this issue. I took 3 months off and went round the world with my parents when I was 12. Does it look like it affected my education Mr Cameron?

Hazy Jane you are right, there should be rules for those parents that need to have guidelines to follow to ensure their kids get a basic education, but for those other parents that provide more than a basic education, it should be a different set of rules for them. Holidays should go back to being awarded on a case by case basis, as they were when my parents got permission.