I work for the emergency services and I have a set 10 week rolling rota. My leave is set within that rota and can't be changed. Some years my leave matches school holidays so it's not a problem but when they don't match I then have to decide if it's worth taking my son out of school to go on holiday. I am also a single parent who works full time and I can't afford to be fined. I don't choose to take my son on holiday in school term time, choice is not something I have. If I don't take him out of school for s holiday then we don't get a family holiday. So far I have taken him out of school once which was unauthorised but I wasn't fined. I'd like the government to explain to my son why he can't have a holiday because I can't afford to be fined. I have been told that I can only use work as an excuse once but this isn't an excuse it's my job!!

The education system is flawed, it's failing 1000s of children and families. Things need to change and quickly. Term time holidays and the expectation of 100% attendance is unfair and causing stress to children and their families

The new policies were put in place without a decent evidence base and without proper consultation. It does not target repeat offenders with low attendance. It targets those who need to take leave in term time who were previously 95% or above attendance. These people were never an issue and by many well researched studies it is proven these amounts of leave do not affect grades. Repeat offenders need to be treated differently, ie those with attendance of less than 80/75% should have a process put in place to deal with persistent absenteeism. This policy is a disaster. Companies cannot let all staff have school holidays off, therefore there are now families who cannot have a family holiday together - this is surely against the concept of a right to a family life. As a service family we often needed to have holidays in term time to be able to be together. Due to the children's high attendance it was not a problem for the head to grant this leave when needed. Now we have to decide whether to have a holiday or whether to pay the fine. It is completely out of line to fine people for making the best choices for their families, under the pretence of dealing with persistent absenteeism, as the target families are not those who are being affected by this policy. Who can I vote for to get this thrown out?

I urge the Government to rethink this ridiculous policy, it was not thought out well enough. I live in a holiday town. Businesses are suffering as they have hardly any trade out of the school holidays now, they are having to lay off staff and work shorter hours to keep their businesses going. This will have a huge knock on affect across the whole economy surely. It's not just the costs of the holidays and the fact we can't ALL be on holiday at the same time! Yes, fine regular abusers of the system but go back to the 10 day rule and head teachers should be educated in what really matters, quality time with family and a education of the world around us or mainstream education where they never experience life!

A review is needed on the policy of term time holidays. We have lots of family abroad and family celebrations do not always fall into holiday periods. As much as we do everything we can to support our child with his eduction, a precious opportunity to see our family would take priority. Coupled with this, the outrageous price of high peak travel needs to be investigated. Despite the fact that the government has said that a family test needs to be applied to all policies, it is strange that in most cases, it seems as though they are trying to eradicate family time and support.

I've been in a school meeting with an OFSTED inspector where strong hints were given that unless a zero tolerance policy were adopted for absences, the school OFSTED result would be reduced, putting the autonomy of the school at risk. And thus persistent absenses from a few combined with this OFSTED threat results in regular attending over-acheiving children from having reasonable time off, and destroys the discretion of the head, and destroys confidence in OFSTED, reducing OFSTED to a witless enforcer of government targets.

Please provide the evidence you based the school holiday absence authorisation upon... Good parenting makes for a better all around person for society... Than just good school grades... And in today's modern society of varying working group times and patterns.... It is impossible to get everyone on holiday in school holidays... Surely effort should be placed on ofsted making sure schools have good procedures and practices... To ensure the missed work is caught up upon... People respond better to partnerships than dictatorship rules and regulations

I would like the evidence committe to evaluate the impact of banning children from taking holiday leave during term time. My experience is that this impacts on my children's holistic deveopment, and has no benefit to their accademic progress at school. The original "evidence" used to justify bringing in this law seemed to confuse persistant truancy with genuine parents wanting a work/life balance for their families.

This policy should be reviewed. All parents are being tarred with the same brush that we take our children out of school whenever we feel like it for a holiday. This is often not the case. Why cant I as a parent decide when I want to take my children on holiday? Surely 1 week doesnt severly damage a childs education that much? I used to be taken out of school in term time and I have a degree. My sister has a masters degree in chemistry. Obviously it didnt effect us too much. Surely life experiences and creating happy memories for my children is just as important as an education? Please review this policy and stop making parents criminals for wanting to give our children a happy and forfilling life. I completely agree that something needs to ne done for persistant absenteeism but please some common sense needs to be used. And how can it be right that a school can take children away on a weeks skiing trip but a parent cant?

I feel there has been a disappointing and non-robust use of evidence in the creation of the term-time holiday policy in schools. It is poorly thought out and poorly disseminated to schools and councils. The bad feeling and disruption to parent-teacher relationships for those parents who do not allow frequent truancy is shameful. This policy has effectively out every parent in the 'bad' bucket with the minority of repeat truant offenders. Where is the robust and clear evaluation of ALL the evidence, not just one MPs decision? Why was this policy not discussed openly before being passed? Why would a government show such contempt for family life? This total disregard for the majority of parents opinion begs the question 'what other policies have been pushed through with no evidence base?' The education departments use of evidence at present appears weak and blinkered.