The BBC recently reported that a police check at Memmingen Airport in Bavaria discovered 10 families with school-aged children heading off holiday.
In Germany parents are legally obliged to send their children to school and the families involved were trying to avoid expensive, peak season holiday costs by travelling in term time. The Spiegel news website reports that the parents now have two weeks to explain why they took their children out of school. If the reason is not good enough each family can be fined up to €1,000 (£876; $1,177).
Families holidaying during term time is also a problem for UK schools who have the right to issue fines for unauthorised absences, except for reasons such as illness or family bereavement. In reality though, many parents will simply offset a £120 fine against off-peak holiday cost savings. On a brighter note, overall school absences in England have declined since the same period a decade earlier, as did the percentage of pupils who were persistently absent. SG World offer a range of solutions which help track and tackle truancy and punctuality, key areas for schools looking for a pro-active approach on poor attendance.