BATH & North East Somerset Council has teamed up with travel
agents in a bid to encourage families to go on holiday out of
school term time..
The most common reason parents give for taking their children
out of school during term time is the cost of holidays.
Through the Department for Education & Skills (DfES), the
Council has made arrangements with some national travel agents to
offer discounts to parents when they book holidays out of term
time.
Although neither the Council nor the Government can influence
the price of holidays, this arrangement offers parents access to
discounted holidays during the school summer holiday
period.
All offers are available for bookings made between March 1 and
March 28 for holidays departing and returning during the
school summer holidays 2005 (July 23 –August 31).
Parents wishing to take advantage of these offers should contact
the tour operators or their agents direct.
Parents must ask the school in advance for permission for
children to miss school and can request a term time absence of up
to ten days each year in special circumstances.
However, research suggests that children who are taken out of
school may never catch up on coursework they have missed. This may
affect test results and can be particularly harmful if the child is
studying for tests or exams
Travel Agents taking part are: Thomas Cook, Kuoni, Virgin
Holidays, Airtours, Thomson & Skytours Holidays, First Choice
Holidays.
Although the Council and schools strongly support this
initiative it is not able to advise on the availability, or assist
with the booking of any of the holidays on offer.
For more information on this and other school attendance issues,
parents can click
here - the Education Welfare Service can also be contacted
on 01225 394241 or by e-mail at education_welfareservice@bathnes.gov.uk
