"Research shows a strong link between school attendance and academic performance," the spokesman said. "Where a principal considers that the holiday is appropriate during school term, the school will record the absence as leave. Where the principal does not believe the holiday is appropriate, any resulting absences would be considered unjustified." The president of the NSW Secondary Principals' Council, Lila Mularczyk, said family holidays during school time were "penalising the education of children". "I think it is really significant that parents and students understand the importance of coherent and consistent education," said Ms Mularczyk, who is also principal of Merrylands High. "Principals have been concerned about families taking unnecessary holidays and, wherever possible, families should travel in vacation time. Parents absolutely want the best for their children, and principals welcome and support any strategy that engages students."



A recent report looking at the attendance records and NAPLAN results of 400,000 students from Western Australia found an absence from school leads to a drop in academic performance. The report, co-written by Stephen Zubrick from the University of Western Australia, said a 10-day period of unauthorised absence in a year was enough for a child to drop a band in NAPLAN. Year 3 numeracy achievement in 2012 declined 1.6 NAPLAN points for every unauthorised day of absence in the first two terms of that year, the report found. Many private schools take a hard-line approach to family holidays mid-term but public schools have generally supported parents taking their children out of school and many prepare work for the students to do while they are away. The president of the NSW Primary Principals' Association, Geoff Scott, said he had "some sympathy" for parents wanting to avoid travelling in expensive peak periods.

But he said the principal's job was to make sure parents knew that there were ramifications if children were not at school. "Schools generally provide work for them to take away with them and check that when they are back, but obviously it is not as good as being there at school," Mr Scott said. Matt Halloran, a travel agent with TravelManagers Australia, has taken his two children, aged 10 and 12, out of school for overseas holidays. He said although school holidays were still the most popular time to travel, families who wanted to do extended trips to the US or Europe often had to take their children out of school. "For a lot of people, it does come down to price and, for a lot of parents wanting to do America or Europe, the mid-term [holidays] is not long enough to take in the summer months in the northern hemisphere," Mr Halloran said. "Families still prefer to book in school holidays but we do see a lot of families wanting to travel outside those times."

Life experience trumped missing school When they decided to pull their two children out of Rose Bay Public School for a family holiday to the United States, Ilona Brooks and Michael Simpson accepted that their time away would consist of more than just theme parks, museum visits and snow days.

Determined to keep up with their classmates, Finn and Tallulah, who now attend the private schools Kambala and The Scots College, did maths and English homework most days and kept a blog that their teachers and friends checked in on from their classroom in Sydney's east. "We felt that what they missed out on in school was made-up for by the life experience they gained over those few weeks," Ms Brooks said.

But mother-of-two would now think twice about allowing her children to miss school. When Finn came down with a stomach bug at the beginning of last year, his parents believed he'd be back in class within a few days. In fact, that break from school was the beginning of an extended absence that saw him fall behind his classmates academically and socially. "He was just starting high school and was so excited, but when he came back after having a week off he really struggled to keep-up in class and his grades suffered," Ms Brooks said.

"Now he is a straight-A student and has made lots of friends," Ms Brooks said. "But it took a lot of hard work and Finn rarely takes a day off school anymore." with Brittany Ruppert