Parents to protest against fines for absent school pupils

Parents will be holding a protest against fines for school pupils’ absences in Southampton.

The Fight School Fines movement hopes to force the government to allow for 10 days of authorised leave for schoolchildren.

The regional protest will take place on March 8 at the Southampton Civic Centre from 12pm.

Organisers for the protest say giving these extra days would allow for essential family time, accommodate SEND needs and disabilities and allow for greater family support.

Beth Morris is organising the Southampton protest. She has two daughters and a step-daughter.

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Her daughter Tayla, 10, has autism, ADHD and pathological demand avoidance (PDA).

Tayla struggled to cope with school and eventually suffered from severe “burnout” two years ago, forcing Beth to take her out of school for her health.

Beth said: “She was not having her needs met in school and the result was she had burnout and her mental health was taking a real hit.

“I had to take the risk of fines and prosecution.”

Beth says she had been threatened with fines, and later prosecution, though after a six-week review she was not taken to court.

“A lot of the narrative in the media is around taking holidays during term time, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. It is about more than that,” she added.

“There is so much more going on when you get to the root cause.”

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The national protest organiser mum-of-two Natalie Elliott said: “We are hoping that the government will reform the attendance legislation and put a different narrative onto why people take term time leave.

“Term time absence fines do not take into consideration the complexity of family life. Fining or prosecuting parents does not fix attendance, all it does is criminalise the parents.”

The fight school fines group was created in July 2024 via a Facebook group

More than 75,500 people have signed a petition to the government to approve this measure. At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament.

The protest will take place in five other places on the same day: Norwich, Nottingham, Leeds, Durham and Liverpool.