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Parents of a Cambridgeshire pupil have been given a jail threat after taking their child out of school to go on holiday.

The parents, from near Ely, have been given a four week suspended sentence for taking their child out of school during term time for the third time.

Parents sometimes take children out of school to go on holiday because going away in term time is cheaper than school holidays.

The family had already been issued Penalty Notice fines by Cambridgeshire County Council for the two previous occasions in 2017 and 2018.

When the parents failed to pay it resulted in a court summons and fines, including costs totalling £440 for the first offence and £1752 for the second offence.

(Image: Getty)

On April 25 a hearing was held and a summons was issued to the couple.

The previous convictions were taken into account by magistrates when they issued the suspended sentence with a requirement for the parents to work with the Probation Service over the next 12 months.

They must complete 20 days of RAR (Rehabilitation Activity Requirement) and must also pay court costs of £165 each.

Magistrates warned the parents that if they took their child on another term time holiday, the suspended prison sentence was likely to be activated and they would be jailed for four weeks.

They went on to add that the government was trying to discourage head teachers in schools from authorising term time absences and that the parents should have understood that taking their children out of school during term time was a serious matter.

(Image: Getty)

Jonathan Lewis, Service Director for Education, said: “The Local Authority firmly believes that for pupils to progress and achieve their full potential they need to have a good level of school attendance.

“Regular school attendance gives your child the best possible start in life from the time they start in reception. Children who frequently miss school are far more likely to fall behind with their work across the curriculum, and thus fail to reach their true potential.”

In the 2016/17 academic year across Cambridgeshire, the attendance data shows there were 3,201 primary school aged pupils and 3,217 secondary school aged pupils who were persistently absent from school.

Those children attended school less than 90 per cent of the time.

To address this problem all schools in the county have put in place new robust attendance strategies and will make a referral to the Local Authority where attendance fails to improve.