BOLTON headteachers are becoming concerned about parents taking their children out of school to go on holiday. In recent years more and more parents are grabbing the cheaper holidays during term-time.

Bob Atkinson, headteacher at Sharples School, said absences soar in the run-up to the summer break rocket.

"Parents are required to write in and request the time off school, some though simply say they are going and give you the dates.

"It's understandable when you consider how much more expensive holidays are in peak summer weeks, but we're talking about five per cent of the school year being lost and it's a significant amount," he said.

Now the education authority is writing to the Secretary of State for Education David Blunkett about the issue.

Bolton's Deputy Director of Education Mr Terry Piggott reveal almost one in five pupils took time off during term in 1994-95.

One per cent took more than one holiday. Some 22pc of special school students took holidays in term, while 12pc of secondary school pupils and 19pc of primary schools did the same.

Mr Piggott said the figures highlight two main concerns:

"The first of these is that education is not as highly prized as it ought to be and although we all recognise the benefits of a family holiday, we also need to realise how important continuity of education is.

"The second point is that the travel industry, in a fiercely competitive market, is in part encouraging this practice by offering cheaper deals during the quieter times which unfortunately fall during term times." The cheap option A TROLL through the Airtours Summer Sun brochure for 1998 illustrates the cost issue effectively.

A two week holiday in the Hotel Torreblanca in Fuengirola on the Costa Del Sol for 14 nights in mid-August with two children aged seven and 10, costs £1,460.45p. The same holiday at the start of June is £1,324.81p.

A spokesman for Rossendale-based Airtours said: "The school holidays are the peak booking period.

"Demand for places in hotels is not only from England but from Europe as a whole and hoteliers raise their prices at this time as do the airports to land the planes and handle the baggage. These costs are then passed on to the customer.

"People take their holidays purely at their own discretion. If a child is taken out of school that is a matter for parents not the tour operator."

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