The Know Daily - Thursday 29 February 2024

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Manatees - adorably also known as “sea cows” - are bouncing back in Florida. Efforts by wildlife officials to protect the species and improve water quality have been credited with their resurgence, and last month, Blue Spring State Park saw record numbers seeking warm waters in the spring 👇 

🏫 Schools shake-up

Fines for unauthorised school absences in England are set to go up by 33%. 

What’s the story?
From September, parents who take their children out of school without permission - including for family holidays - will face slightly higher fines. The government plans to raise penalties by 33%, from £60 to £80. 

The Department for Education said that fines “must be considered” if more than five days of school are missed for unauthorised absence. At present, local authorities have their own policies on when to issue fines.

Why are fines going up? 
It’s all part of a government drive to get attendance back up “from its post-Covid slump”, explained The Guardian. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told BBC News that most fines were for unauthorised term-time holidays, with a record 350,000 parents in England fined over term-time holidays last year.

What’s the other side?
The new approach will prove controversial with parents “struggling to afford a holiday or who feel let down by the school system”, said the BBC.

Bridget Phillipson, Labour's shadow education secretary, said that the government’s move addressed “the symptoms of absence but not the cause”, overlooking issues such as “growing unaddressed mental ill health” and “a breakdown of trust between schools and families”. 

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, stressed that most fines were applied to children taken on holidays during term time. And according to the BBC, headteachers will retain “some discretion” over which cases to send to the council for potential fines and “where support is needed”.