A MOTHER says it was unfair that she was fined for taking her children to Ibiza during the school term.

Jenny McDade, 38, of Moyne Close, Hove, was given a £250 penalty notice from Brighton and Hove City Council for taking her seven and 11-year-old children for a week’s holiday last month.

Ms McDade said she could not take time off work during the school holidays as there was nobody to cover her demanding job in dementia care.

She said she wrote to both Goldstone Primary and Blatchington Mill School ahead of the trip to say that her children would be absent.

But she returned from her family holiday on October 22 with the fine waiting for her on the doormat.

Ms McDade said: “I don’t think it’s fair. I’ve got a demanding job and I couldn’t take them during the school holidays because I wasn’t able to get off work. There was no other option.

“I wrote to both the schools before we left but only Blatchington Mill replied warning me that I would get a fine. But I didn’t get the letter until I arrived home.

“The letter says if I don’t pay the fines by December 13 then I’ll have another £60 per child to pay as a further penalty. It’s all a bit excessive. It’s too much.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: “This is a national policy with headteachers able to grant absence outside school holidays only in ‘exceptional circumstances’.

“Local authorities are obliged to enforce legal proceedings on behalf of schools.”

A second set of parents were given suspended jail terms after their daughter skipped school.

The married Brighton parents were jailed for six weeks suspended for a year after being prosecuted by Brighton and Hove City Council.

They admitted their teenage daughter missed up to six weeks of school in about four months. The mother, who must also attend a rehabilitation project, said: “It would be better if there was something aimed at her rather than on us parents to make her realise how important it is.”

The teenager’s father, who was also given 80 hours’ community service, said: “We are not thugs.”

Neither the family nor the school can be identified due to legal restrictions to protect the girl.

Her mother added: “She got so down she could not get motivated. She was offered counselling in school but was not interested.

“We offered these reasons to the judge but he said it was no excuse.”

The council said prosecution is a last resort and courts ‘take it seriously’ if things get to this point.