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Term-time holidays: 'A week off primary can affect GCSEs'

A "common sense approach" should be applied to parents in England taking children out of school for holidays, the Local Government Association says. Strict new rules on term-time holidays - including fines - were introduced in 2013 to punish parents over absences. But the LGA says the current system "does not always favour families".
Hampstead School headteacher Jacques Szemalikowski told the programme that missing even a week at primary level could affect GCSE grades; but father Jon Platt disagreed - he won a court battle, overturning a 拢120 fine for taking his daughter out of school for a family holiday. And Louise Hamilton described her surprise that her children's school did not authorise a holiday during a gap in her cancer treatment.

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12 minutes