Thank you to all who have signed and shared this petition so far, all 34,900 odd of you. 

Just remember, absence for family holidays does NOT correlate with poorer attainment at school, it correlates with better outcomes, so says the DFE in the biggest research paper they ever did on the subject (DFE RR 171).   

So don't feel bad when the Penalty Notice arrives from your local authority.  Remember most councillors don't understand the difference between causation and correlation so trying to explain the graph below is not going to work on them and it certainly isn't going to work on the people who get paid to issues these 'fines' either.  Pay it and treat is as a badge of honour.  Frame the Penalty Notice and hang it on the wall.  Tell yourself, 'I did the right thing by my children even when the state tried to force me to do otherwise'.