Here we go again!

One of those ever-recurring themes in this blog is that of school terms and family holidays. Apparently things are much stricter since the beginning if the current academic year.  Prior to that, parents were able to apply to take their children out of school for ten days to go on holiday, and unless you came up against a particularly arsey head teacher, permission was usually granted.  Since last September however, heads have been told to refuse permission except in exceptional circumstances - whatever those are.  A couple where the father is unable to take leave during the six week summer break have been fined getting on for £1000 for none-the-less taking their children away from school on holiday to Rhodes last autumn.  So who's in the right?  Is anybody in the right?  Is this just a stupid rule that doesn't take any account of what real people living real lives have to cope with?  Everybody is taking an entrenched "holier than thou" position, but surely there must be something wrong with a rule that potentially means that there will be couples who can never again (at least while their kids are at school) have a family holiday all together without breaking the law?  Interestingly, the couple in question say that, from a purely economic point of view, they came out on top - their fine was less than the money they saved by taking the holiday in term-time!