Council / Lack of ferry and flight capacity could be behind rise in unauthorised school holidays, meeting hears
FERRY and flight capacity issues have been partly blamed for a rise in unauthorised school absences.
Councillors heard on Monday that there had been a “quite significant” increase in the number of unauthorised parental holidays over the last four years.
There were 9,544 lost half days across Shetland’s schools in the 2023/24 council year, with members being told this was a “growing challenge” for Shetland Islands Council.
And unauthorised absences rose significantly during the final week of term in October 2024 as schools wound down before the holidays.
Council leader Emma Macdonald questioned whether a lack of available places on NorthLink ferries and Loganair flights at this time was driving parents to pull their children out of school early.
Children’s services director Samantha Flaws said that “anecdotally” they were hearing that was one factor behind the unauthorised absences.
For Heather Couper, an education support officer, the unsanctioned holidays were a “continued concern”.
“We do see spikes at the end of a school term,” she added.
She said they wanted to reinforce to parents that schools were “not pulling back in the last few days of term”, and that their children would be missing learning by not attending.
Macdonald said while they would all want their schools to have a good attendance, she could “really understand why people are having to make those choices”.
“I do think we need to understand that some of the issues here are being caused by capacity on ferries on flights,” she told Monday’s education and families committee meeting.
“It’s not the fault of the parents, who I’m sure would like to go when the school breaks up, it’s just not always possible.”
She said while she was “not saying it’s a good thing”, she would almost expect that the trend of unauthorised absences “will not change”.
Lerwick South councillor John Fraser said families were being left in a “difficult predicament”.
There was a “hike in price” for holidays when schools were closed, he said, which was putting a “strain” on parents who wanted to go away.
“I hate to see parents penalised for having to do that,” Fraser said.
“Never underestimate the educational value of that family holiday”.
However Shetland’s MSYPs felt missing too much school would be detrimental to their fellow pupils.
Bertie Summers said that schools needed to understand why people were absent, adding that “missing this much school can make it really hard to keep up with lessons”.
And Joe Smith said the “worrying” rise in term time holidays was something the council “needs to pay attention to”.
“It’s important to think how missing school affects children,” he told the council chamber.
“We need a fair balance between supporting families and making sure pupils stay on track in their education.”
Moraig Lyall, councillor for Shetland Central, questioned what response parents were being given when they pulled their children out of school during term time.
Couper admitted they were “looking for more consistency between schools” and a “more consistent process” for dealing with unauthorised absences.
She said a standard letter could be written up by the council and sent out to parents or guardians.
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