School holiday travel prices lead to pupil absence

Parents have said the high cost of travelling away from Jersey during the school holidays has led them to take their children out of school for a trip.

Mother-of-two Annie Noble said the price of flights and hotels for her family to visit Belfast had more than doubled during the school holidays, compared to term time.

A record number of fines were issued in England last year for children being taken out of school for holidays and some parents have said they accept the fines because they can save so much money.

The education departments in Jersey and Guernsey do not issue fines but they have told parents they should "avoid booking holidays in term time whenever possible".

Noble said the price inflation applied to school holidays had led her to take her daughters, aged seven and three, out of school to take a break.

She said: "Out of term time, we were looking at £260 just for our flight to go over to Belfast to see family.

"In term time, it's costing us £112 for all four of us to go with a suitcase for five days.

"Hotel fees were twice the price to go outside of the term and, unfortunately, we just can't justify that."

A number of other parents shared their views with BBC Jersey but wanted to remain anonymous.

One said they had been honest with teachers about a holiday and added their children had learned "a lot more" on a three-week trip than they would have in school.

Another parent said they were going to take their child out of school in December to go to Lapland in Finland because the costs were "outrageous" otherwise.

Melissa Harris, who has four children, said she had found it was usually 150% more expensive to travel in the holidays and a trip to Egypt was £2,000 cheaper outside of the Easter break.

She said going away was important to connect as a family and the prices during holidays made that "completely unattainable" for most people.

A report from Statistics Jersey showed more than a third of households went without a week-long holiday abroad in 2025 because of the cost, compared to 21% in 2017.

Mark Brignall, from the UK-based National Education Union, said staff had anecdotally reported a "definite increase in students taken out of curriculum time to go on holidays".

He said it was tricky for parents because of the savings they could make and "sometimes the experiences students get on a holiday are hugely beneficial".

In Guernsey, a new campaign has been launched to combat dropping attendance rates at school.

Deputy Paul Montague, the island's education president, said parents should understand the impact taking holidays during term time could have on children's learning.

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