Got the sunscreen?

A father took his daughter out of school without permission to go on a week's holiday to Florida and then refused to pay the fine imposed by the local council.  They took him to court and the magistrates dismissed their case, and the Court of Appeal have now equally dismissed their appeal.  This is being seen as giving "carte blanche" to other parents to do the same.  Not sure it's quite that simple.  The Court of Appeal would not have concerned themselves with who did what and why, but would have simply considered whether the magistrates applied the law correctly or not, and clearly they decided that they did.  The Education Act 1996 places a legal obligation on a parent to ensure their child receives full-time education "either by regular attendance at school or otherwise".  The girl in question had an attendance record of over 90% even after taking this holiday and the magistrates decided that this qualified as "regular attendance".  So the holiday was really somewhat incidental - the case turned on the definition of "regular attendance".