All this evidence that has so called been collected , not once has my boys been included it it !! It appears to me that evidence is only collected that includes the worse case families .. When will you ask us the hard working parents of kids in the top set , who have had 100% attendance (except for a family holiday) have only had 3 days off sick since the age of 3 , always do their homework , never late , always have school uniform .. NO you don't want to include us in your evidence as it will show that even though we take a family holiday every few years in term time (BECAUSE WE HAVE TO BECAUSE OF WORK COMMITMENTS) our children are well mannered , well educated & have a happy & balanced home life .. You are just making the relationship between parents & the schools break down .. I will not support a school or government that backs this policy or evidence .. To you my sons are just another number in your statistics , your evidence , but to me they are my world & rest assured no one on this planet takes my sons education more seriously than me .. If my son wants to get married before he is 18 he needs MY consent , if he needs emergency medical treatment he has to have MY consent , if he has to go on a school trip he needs MY consent the list goes on .. you see the pattern here .. MY sons are MY responsibility so the only consent he needs to have a family holiday is mine ! The fact is my family working situation means nothing to people who make these policies so your policies mean nothing to me ! .. you change a policy on a whim but our household circumstances don't change !! target the individual who needs to be pulled up by so called polices not everyone .. My son who is 14 has said to me he will not vote for the government who has bought this "silly rule" in so you have lost the voters of the future ! You took a system that was working re family holidays & just changed it on the word of a few men .. utter madness !! I passed ALL my exams got 3 jobs before I left school & I am hard of hearing .. yet I took a family holiday in term time every year with my parents .. use that in your evidence .. My niece has just graduated from uni .. had a holiday every year no damage to her education .. use that in your evidence ! I am adamant that if my sons fail exams because of 2 weeks off then lets be honest they were not going to pass anyway .. also this is my second marriage & one of the biggest factors in my marriage breakdown was not spending enough quality family time together .. put that in your evidence .. there are more broken families now than ever why ? stop running out schools like it's a business & get back to what it's supposed to be a place of learning not a prison ..If I was rich & could afford a private education for my boys then the the rules don't apply how is that fair !

I really wish you would change the school rule on holidays I work in a busy hospital and would really struggle to get time off in the school holidays which means I would not be able to take my grandson on holiday anymore a big shame as we take him to see so many historical places and he learns so much.

The department of education has published info stating that the reason for absence from school has the greater impact on educational attainment. The reason of going on a family holiday does not affect educational attainment at KS2, so why the change in the law 14 months ago? The previous system worked and it seems that the law was brought in to deal with a minority of parents who allow their children to miss school willy-nilly, at the detriment to family time. I also feel that it is very unfair that these laws do not affect those who pay for private education. There should never be a situation in any country where people can buy there way out of the law. If attendance is as essential as MPs make out, then this is for all children. I very much feel that parents are no longer trusted to make the correct decisions regarding their children. If there is a problem, this needs to be dealt with between headteacher's and specific famillies, not a blanket ban.

Penalising parents from taking their children out of school during term time is absolutly ridiculous, how many parents are both able to take time off at the same time during school holidays. So many families are going to have to miss out on quality family time together, which is so important for the social development of our young children in everyway. Without time out families suffer, become angry aggresive, tired worn out, this ultimatly affects children, and henceforth their education, unhappy children in school certainly won't make teaching these children any easier. Wake up can't you see it's counter productive. So far this term my daughter has been ill twice within three weeks, i was worried that the school was going to think i had been on holiday, so the second time i sent my child back to school slightly ill (still coughing) just to prove that she had been ill, not of any benefit to her or other children. After this her term report said that her attendance was below the expected, this worried my daughter, i mentioned to my daughters head of year on seeing him for another reason that i sent her back to school early when she was still ill. His response was that i should always get a doctors note to prove that she was ill, then i would have no need to worry. How ridiculous, i certainly would never go to a doctor for a minor cough or cold, i wouldn't dream of wasting the doctors valuable time when they could be seeing other patients who needed it. Besides it is 8 miles away. I overheard another mother the other day in London also worrying about the fact that her daughter had been ill for two weeks and how she thought the school would not believe her. It makes you feel like a criminal for doing absolutly nothing wrong. I also means that now i know i can not afford to take my daughter on most holidays that i would have before as the cost will now triple, as all flights/holidays go up in price for the school holidays. This makes me extremely angry, school education is not the only way children learn about life, what about life education, of which they will be missing out on a large chunk if they cannot spend quality family time together. No amount of education in school can really teach a child about how other countries live unless it is experenced first hand, i say it gives a child a far better rounded, truthfull and honest opinion of the World in around them. The one thing i think that would make for more alert children in class would be for all children to be banned from using FaceBook after 8 in the evening, as most of them are on it at 1 or 2 in the morning. Now that is where i do feel sorry for teachers, as they must constantly be teaching children who are absolutly shattered. But thats never going to happen is it. As my son grew up i never had the worry of being penalised for giving him enjoyment and providing him with experiences that mainstream education cannot give. I did not take him out of school much, just the odd day here and there, maybe to extend a weekend, it made all the difference to both our lifes and i am so pleased i was able to do this even on a low income. This decision is treating parents as if they do not know what is right for their children, it is treating parents like children, well i know what is right for my child and it is quality family time together even if it is out of school time. This makes me so angry we should have the right to choose the best for our children.

Choosing to take our children out of school should be the parents responsibility. I am sure that as the parent, you would only do this if it was not damaging to your child. Holidays are an important part of family life, and pressure should not be put into parents to pay the immoral prices that are charged during school holidays. The holiday I have booked for next year halved in price from one week to the next at the end of the summer holidays - all for missing 4 days of a school year. You cannot tell me that this would harm the children. Leave the choice up to the parents, as you only get children "off ill" to cover up when they are taken out - I think this is far worse for the schools and for the children themselves.

This government made a big mistake with term time holiday rule, persistent truancy is not being targeted, these are the children that need to be, not families taking children out of school once a year, my husband is a wedding photographer and booked from May to October, no work or very little October to May, I work full time all week for the nhs, therefore family time is rare for my children, this new law has resulted in me going on holiday with my children alone next year, splitting families up is not good for any child

Children aren't academic robots that should be shoved in a school and made to intake education in a one size fits all way.There are many ways to learn and kids should not be pressured the way they are.I also find the way schools pressure parents to take their child into school when they have not fully recovered from an illness really upsetting and very irresponsible in spreading viruses.Term time holidays should be allowed as children need this to relax and recharge,without being in an over crowded place.They benefit emotionally and psychologically from these holiday breaks,while learning as well.I don't think the DofE listens to anyone whose views don't fir in with what they have already decided.It's the children and families and teachers who suffer because of the misguided decisions.

as a hard working family with 3 children i feel we are being punished by not being well off. my husband basically works 7 days a week to provide our children with the best life that we can give them.hobbies family time and memories. we completly agree with the school system and our children are never off unnesesarily always in school uniform with all home work completed. i do so much with them at home to encourage there skills and want them to be well rounded individuals and afults that im proud of...but because we are not rich is it ok for the government to say we cant take them on holiday...because thats what there saying because we cant afford to go on holiday in the school holidays! we try our hardest and our children are our world yet our parental rights ate being taken away from us and its disgusting. if any one really thought about this further than just taking away family time its egfecting the economy...holidays are not being taken in this country as much everything is being effected and of corse those who are implimenting theses rules are probably on a big enough salary for it to effect them or there children!

It would appear that there has not been much use of evidence in recent policy making. If there has been any, as a parent it is not easy to find out references for where evidence has come from in relation to policies that are then rolled out to affect us all. I have wondered why it is deemed necessary to gather evidence for recent decisions which appear to go against all common sense and for which policies that are introduced then do no good whatsoever to the children, parents or teachers.

This action will push travel companies to up prices which is ridiculous and exactly what we do not want to happen - this puts soooo much pressure on families on so many levels and is very wrong - I know there are families who take kids out of school more than they should but this is punishing normal middle of the road families who struggle to take kids on holiday and afford it. Thanks for the opportunity to voice my opinion xxx