You may have seen a lot in the news recently about parents’ being fined for taking their children out of school for a holiday. Now, a petition to allow parents to have 10 days of holiday time authorised by the school has reached 100,000 signatures- it reached this target in just 36 hours.
Dave Hedley is the man behind the campaign. He launched the petition after he was fined for taking his children out of school for five days, even though it was the only time they could go away during his wife’s treatment for cancer. He launched the petition this past Monday (9th May) but it has already reached the target of 100,000 that it needed in order to be considered for Parliamentary debate.
Mr. Hedley told the Manchester Evening News he was ‘overwhelmed’ with the level of support that the petition has received in a short amount of time. In particular, he thanked the people of Manchester. Lastly, he said it was obviously a ‘topic of discussion’ which people feel passionate about, adding he will continue to drum up support to help others.
The petition was widely shared and supported across Manchester. One supporter on Facebook said ‘I’m all for it, as it means it will be more affordable for families to go abroad’. Another said that being able to take her children to see family in Australia during term time would save them £500 per head. However, some people were critical, arguing that teachers will struggle to plan lessons if every child is off at different times. Another said the issue lies with travel companies rather than schools, saying they should lower their prices and stop taking advantage of peak fares during school holidays.
The description of Mr. Hedley’s petition told of how he and his wife received two fines each per child for taking them out of school in the only gap of his wife’s treatment, adding that the school knew about the diagnosis.
If you wish to sign the petition, you can do so here.
