Mum takes excessive motion after being fined £480 for teenagers vacation | UK | News | EUROtoday

A mother-of-three has resorted to homeschooling her kids for 3 months to keep away from the specter of court docket motion for taking them on vacation throughout time period time. Rachel Smith, 43, a jewelry designer, and her husband Stuart, 41, who manages Airbnb properties, had already been fined £480 in January for taking their kids – Owen, 9, Ruby, seven, and Zac, 5 – to Portugal throughout the faculty time period.

The couple, from Bridgewater, Somerset, had booked two extra household breaks, together with a visit to Legoland and an  Easter vacation to Lanzarote, which might require their kids to overlook 4 days of faculty. To keep away from additional fines or a possible felony report, they deregistered their kids from faculty and are instructing them at residence till May, once they plan to re-enroll them.

Rachel defined: “We’re homeschooling our three children for a few months just so that we can go on a couple of affordable holidays. We’d be missing a total of four days off school this term. We had no choice but to take them out and homeschool them.

“We’d already been fined £480 and we have been nervous about getting a big effective and potential felony report if we did not.”

Rachel criticises the government, calling it “a dictatorship” for imposing such strict rules on families. Rachel Smith expressed her deep-seated concerns about facing court action due to her decision to take her children on a family holiday during term time: “I used to be actually nervous about court docket motion, as a result of I do know of a lot of folks this has occurred to. My nervousness was so excessive I could not sleep. I by no means supposed to homeschool my kids, nevertheless it’s the one alternative we now have.”

Rachel and her family had previously faced fines after a trip to Portugal earlier in the year: “We went on vacation to Portugal earlier this yr – we might deliberate to return again the day after they have been due in school however we ended up extending it by every week – and bought fined tons of of kilos,” reports the Mirror.

She highlighted the vast difference in costs when planning a trip during term time versus school holidays, comparing the prices of a visit to Legoland and their affordable flights to Portugal in January: “Going to Legoland for one evening throughout time period time will value £400, however going within the Easter holidays is £700. By going to Portugal in January we managed to get flights for simply £20 per particular person. You can by no means get flights for something like that within the faculty holidays.”

Recent government statistics (2023-24) reveal a record number of fines issued to parents in England for their children’s unauthorised absences from school, with a staggering 91 per cent attributed to family holidays. Failure to pay or repeat offenses can lead to prosecution, with 28,296 parents taken to court over their children’s school attendance during the same period.

Rachel firmly believes that the government has overstepped its authority, stating: “I believe the federal government has been very heavy-handed – it seems like a dictatorship. How ought to the federal government be allowed to be accountable for your kids? The authorities is selecting to make it so that folks cannot have a vacation.”

In her opinion, family holidays are not luxuries but rather essential for the wellbeing of families: “I do not suppose holidays are a luxurious – they’re so necessary for the wellbeing of the household.”

Rachel shared her perspective on the educational value of experiences gained outside the classroom, noting: “And the children study a lot from having these experiences that we could not afford to do at different occasions.”

Rachel added: “I perceive that the federal government must crack down on truancy, however we’re simply wanting to offer our youngsters instructional experiences. There should not be a one-size suits all strategy.”

The process for Rachel to formalise her children’s school re-entry in May is not without its hurdles; she must reapply and then abide by a decision period that may stretch up to three weeks. She explained the steps taken to enable home education: “In order to homeschool, I needed to write a letter saying I used to be deregistering them,” and added, “I used to be instructed that the varsity could not assure that there could be locations out there once they tried to return again. But it is a small faculty and never oversubscribed, so we ought to be okay.”

The flexibility homeschooling offers has markedly changed their routine.

Assisting her partner Stuart with homeschooling, Rachel starts the day guiding their children through times tables and spellings at 8.15am. This is followed by a morning walk, spanning from 9am to 11am, then after a lunch break, the children enjoy a mix of play and television between 12.30 and 2pm.

Their afternoon at 2pm comprises an art session, leading up to social visits to family or friends, attendance at a kids’ club at 3.30pm, dinner service at 5pm, a singular TV show at 6pm, an hour of reading beginning at 6.30pm, and concludes with bedtime set for 8pm.

Rachel, a parent who has embraced the flexibility of homeschooling, shared her family’s approach to education: “We would possibly do half an hour of maths within the morning after which go for a stroll or we would do it at 6pm,” she says. “We match the educational in when it’s proper time for them. If they don’t seem to be within the temper to do maths in the future then we can’t do any that day.”

She also spoke about the benefits this flexibility brings to their family life: “We used to go to an Airbnb for the weekend and should rush again on Sunday evening for varsity, however now we are able to do issues on the seaside the following day and create household reminiscences. There is a lot extra flexibility.”

Rachel, who estimates a yearly saving of £3,000 to £5,000 by holidaying during term time, confidently states: “We may have no hesitation in doing it once more – both later this yr or subsequent yr – if I really feel the children would profit from a vacation. Children are solely little as soon as.”

The Mirror has sought a response from the Department for Education.

There is a petition to allow parents to take their children out of school for up to 10 days fine free. Find the petition here.

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