A mother-of-three, who is temporarily homeschooling her children to avoid the risk of court action, has labelled the government “a dictatorship” after being fined £480 in January for taking them on a term-time trip to Portugal.
Rachel Smith, 43, a jewellery designer, and her husband Stuart, 41, who manages Airbnb properties, had already planned two family holidays with their children – Owen, nine, Ruby, seven, and Zac, five – which would result in missing four days of school.
To avoid the threat of additional fines, court action, or a criminal record, the couple from Bridgewater, Somerset, deregistered their children from school for a term to homeschool them, intending to re-enrol them in May.
Rachel said: “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. What do you think? Let us know in the comments”.
“We’d already been fined £480 and we were worried about getting a large fine and possible criminal record if we didn’t.”, reports the Mirror.
“I was really worried about court action, because I know of lots of people this has happened to. My anxiety was so high I couldn’t sleep. I never intended to homeschool my children, but it’s the only choice we have.”
‘We went on holiday to Portugal earlier this year – we’d planned to come back the day after they were due at school but we ended up extending it by a week – and got fined hundreds of pounds.
“Going to Legoland for one night during term time will cost £400, but going in the Easter holidays is £700. By going to Portugal in January we managed to get flights for just £20 per person. You can never get flights for anything like that in the school holidays.”
The Smiths’ experience comes as the most recent government statistics (for 2023-24) show a record number of fines were given to parents in England for their children’s absence from school. Of the 487,344 fines issued, 91% were for unauthorised family holidays.
If these fixed penalty notices go unpaid, or have been previously issued, parents face court – with 28,296 parents prosecuted over their children’s school attendance during the same period.
Rachel says: “I think the government has been very heavy-handed – it feels like a dictatorship. How should the government be allowed to be in control of your children? The government is choosing to make it so that people can’t have a holiday.
“I don’t think holidays are a luxury – they are so important for the wellbeing of the family.
“And the kids learn so much from having these experiences that we couldn’t afford to do at other times.”
Rachel’s stance is echoed by a petition, which has garnered 100,000 signatures, calling on the government to allow families up to 10 days of term-time holidays each year.
Supporting the cause, Rachel asserts: “I understand that the government needs to crack down on truancy, but we are just wanting to give our kids educational experiences. There shouldn’t be a one-size fits all approach.”
When it comes to enrolling her children in school this May, Rachel faces the task of reapplying and then waiting up to three weeks for a decision.
Explaining the process of homeschooling, she notes: “In order to homeschool, I had to write a letter saying I was deregistering them,” adding that “I was told that the school couldn’t guarantee that there would be places available when they tried to come back. But it’s a small school and not oversubscribed, so we should be ok.”
The flexibility offered by homeschooling has significantly altered their daily routine.
Alongside Stuart, who shares in the teaching duties, Rachel begins the day with times tables and spelling at 8.15am and incorporates a walk between 9am and 11am. Post-lunch, from 12.30pm to 2pm, the children enjoy some free time with play activities and a bit of television.
Studies resume at 2pm with an art session until 3.30pm, after which they may visit family or friends, participate in a kids’ club, and then settle down for dinner at 5pm. The day concludes with one TV programme at 6pm, followed by a reading hour at 6.30pm, before bedtime at 8pm.
“We might do half an hour of maths in the morning and then go for a walk or we might do it at 6pm,” Rachel explains. “We fit the learning in when it is the right time for them. If they are not in the mood to do maths one day, then we won’t do any that day.
“We used to go to an Airbnb for the weekend and have to rush back on Sunday night for school, but now we can do things on the beach the next day and create family memories. There is so much more flexibility.”
Rachel, who estimates they save between £3,000 and £5,000 a year by taking holidays during term time, says: “We will have no hesitation in doing it again – either later this year or next year – if I feel the kids would benefit from a holiday.
“Children are only little once.” The Department for Education has been contacted for a response.
The petition to Parliament can be signed here.