A MUM has decided to take her children on holiday during term time again despite being warned of a criminal record.
Self-professed bad mum Whitney Ainscough jetted off on two family holidays during school time last year with her partner and three children, Cora Bentley, 12, Addison Squires, seven, and Adley Christopher, three.
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Now Whitney is planning to take them to Euro Disney during term time as she claims it’s ‘educational.’
The family splashed out £5,000 on a trip to Cyprus in June 2024 and £8,000 for their Zante holiday in July 2024 and her kids missed five days of school for each trip.
The social media influencer known as @itsmebadmom on TikTok was ‘fuming’ when she received a £60 fine in the post on 26th July 2024 for her June holiday from her eldest’s school.
The 31-year-old says she paid the fine for her first holiday but on 17 January opened a letter that she assumed was a second fine, only to find she might be facing a criminal record for taking her children out of school.
The shocked mum-of-three took to social media and shared the news of the letter with her 440,000 TikTok followers.
In the clip, Whitney read the letterand said she was ‘flabbergasted’ that she received a single justice procedure notice outlining she is being charged under Section 444 (1) of the Education Act 1996.
Section 444 (1) of the Education Act 1996 states that if a child of compulsory school age who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly at school, his parent is guilty of an offence.
A person charged with the offence has to prove they had a ‘reasonable justification’ for their child’s failure to attend regularly at the school.
However Whitney remains defiant in the face of the threats, claiming she does not want to leave them at home and so they will school again to go to Paris this week.
Whitney, from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, said: “I was literally just about to take my kids to school and I’d quickly opened it.
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“Obviously I couldn’t read it properly because I had to take the kids to school so I put it down a minute, I only scanned through it and I was like what the f***.
“I took my kids to school, came back and read the letter. The first thing I did straight away was make a video. I was like, I’m fuming, what on earth?
“I was expecting that I may get another fine but I’d not heard anything and it had been months. I was absolutely furious, fuming.
“To be honest with you, it would absolutely make me laugh. How could you even threaten somebody with jail for taking their kids on holiday.
I take my kids on a nice holiday to see the world and you get penalised for it.
Whitney Ainscough
“I just can’t understand the logic of it. These are my children, they are not the government’s children.”What do you want me to do? Leave my kids at home while I go off on fancy holidays with my partner? No. I’m sure social services would be getting involved at that point.
“I take my kids on a nice holiday to see the world and you get penalised for it. It’s absolutely disgusting.
“Whenever we do go [on holiday] I would say they’re all educational. When we went in July to Zante, we booked a private boat and we went to go and see a shipwreck, we went to Turtle Island.
“I want them to see more of the world and yes school is educational and whatever else and they need education. But they also need to see more of the world.
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Section 444 of the Education Act 1996
What does this mean?
Section 444 of the Education Act covers school attendance and children’s absences.
It says if a child is absent from school without permission, and the child’s parent knew about it, the parent is guilty of an offence.
The parent can face a fine of up to £2,500 – or they could even face a prison sentence of up to three months.
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“It f***ing frustrates me.
“She said she has returned the letter to the council explaining her reasons for taking Cora out of school.
Whitney also says she takes her children out of school during term time because one of her sons has additional needs and struggles to cope in busy environments.
Although she said she has never taken her children on holiday during term time before these trips, she is taking them out again to go to Paris this weekend.
Whitney said: “My next step is, I’ve sent the letter back, saying I am guilty of taking Cora out of school which I’m not going to deny.
“I’m not going to lie, I have the money to go on holiday whenever I want. I could go in the six-week holidays.
“It’s nothing to do with the money, it’s to do with how busy things are. I have a child with ADHD and other things. He does have additional needs.
“He struggles a lot in majorly busy times. So the six-week holidays and stuff like that, it is way too busy. That is the reasoning as to why I take them when I take them.
“It’s not because I think I’m better and I don’t need to send my kids to school.
“It’s not to do with that, it’s more to do with how my other child is going to cope while we are there and making it easier for us.
“Surely they should understand my reasons for taking them out at that time.
“I am actually taking my kids out again. I’m taking them to Paris this weekend.
“It’s my partner’s birthday at the weekend, I want my kids to come with us. I want them to be part of my life. They are my reason for my life. I want my kids to come.
“I had the option to leave them at home with family but I don’t want to. I want to take my kids to see Paris. You know, Disneyland, the Eiffel Tower.”
My kids are not missing out on experiences in life just because they’re going to miss a few days at school.
Whitney Ainscough
Whitney also said she believes she is being ‘targeted’ because of her online presence.
Whitney said: “I feel like because I’m on social media and whatever else, I feel like they’re trying to make a bit of an example out of me as well. I feel like I am being targeted.
“They probably seem to feel that I don’t care and obviously I do care. I want my kids to achieve and do better than I ever did.
“But my kids are not missing out on experiences in life just because they’re going to miss a few days at school. They’ll catch up.
“I’d understand if my kids weren’t clever. My kids are clever, they’re very clever.
“They do their work, they get on with it, they’re not naughty kids.
“It would be absolutely ridiculous. Obviously I would take to social media. If they were to try and jail me over taking my kids on holiday, it would be a big deal on social media.
“I’m not worried because I think it would be absolutely ridiculous and if that was the case I would pull all three children out of education and keep them at home.”
Rotherham Council has been contacted for comment by Kennedy News.
