Hi my name is Shaun, I am married to Michelle and we are a family with five children altogether, we have three stepchildren all in their twenties  from my wife’s previous marriage and two children together that are still in school.

Unfortunately for many years now I have suffered with my mental health due to me being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder along with various physical disabilities too.

Because of this I really struggle to get out and about amongst large crowds of people, something which obviously puts extra pressure on my wife and children as a result.

To take a holiday during the school holidays is my idea of an absolute nightmare if I’m honest and is something which I would really struggle with.

This year I decided spontaneously to book a getaway for us all which I didn’t tell my wife about until 2 weeks before we were going.

My wife and myself asked our daughter and sons schools for permission to take our children out of school for a week to enjoy some quality family time together without the stress of there being too many people about for me.

Unfortunately my daughters school told us the day before we were due to go away that we weren’t allowed time off from school and have just been fined £120 each for taking a family break during term time.

My wife is my full time carer and a full time mum to our 8 year old daughter and 15 year old son as well as my support dog and obviously this does put considerable stress onto my wife so I believe that it is ludicrous that a school can decide to fine a family that are already suffering financial difficulties given our living situation so I’m hoping that we could get this petition put forward to stop this happening to families in similar situations.

No family should have to be left with no option other than to take separate holidays or worse not have a holiday at all and this is what I think needs to change.

Surely there should be special consideration for families with parents suffering from mental illness 
Surely we should be able to have happy times together without fear of getting fined or prosecuted?