SIR: I write in reply to the comments last week by the head teacher of Sharples School, Bob Atkinson, about parents taking children out of school to go on holiday.

While he is probably correct with the statistics I feel he is less aware of the problems facing those of us employed outside the education system. One area in which he is most definitely incorrect is in the assumption that the vast majority of parents choose to take their holidays outside of school holidays for financial reasons. This is undoubtedly true in some instances, but there are certainly lots of other reasons as well, one example of which I would like to give now.

I work for a small company with a total of five employees, all of whom are married with children. This, of course, means that we would have to allow two people to take their holidays at the same time, which would mean a 40 per cent reduction in the work force for a total of four of the six weeks holidays. I don't believe that any business can function on this basis. Therefore, the only other alternatives are for two of the five to manage without a holiday or take them during term time. The latter seems at present the only viable option to myself unless the powers that be can be persuaded to restore Bolton Holidays.

On the subject of Bolton Holidays, I would be very interested to hear of anyone who was consulted before this decades-old tradition was abolished, along with reasons why. If it is purely to assist the school calendar then perhaps that would be reason in itself now to review the situation as it has probably created more problems than it has solved.

The reinstatement of these holidays would not, of course, affect those whose workplace is large enough to absorb large scale absences but would enable the smaller and more vulnerable business's to function without it's employees being labelled 'truanting parents', after all we don't all have 12 weeks plus of holidays to choose from.

Mr G Boardman

Southgrove Avenue, Sharples

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