EDUCATION officials in Bury are warning parents about the problems caused by families taking holidays during school term time.

The National Executive Committee of The Association for Education Welfare Management (AEWM), has expressed concern about the difficulties this is causing.

Now 28,000 letters are being sent to parents of all schoolchildren in the town to raise their awareness of the situation and inform them of their responsibilities.

Bury Metro's Executive Member for Lifelong Learning, Councillor Steve Perkins, said: "Although a headteacher has the power to deny a family's request for leave of absence, in doing so they face considerable pressure from both families and the consequential effect on published statistics of unauthorised absence.

"Even if headteachers do take a stance against holidays in term times, parents can often undermine this by giving false information. We really need to tackle this problem, but it is only with the co-operation of parents that we can prevent pupils missing out on vital chunks of their education."

The AEWM heard reports from one local education authority where more than 4,000 school days had been lost to holidays in the last academic year alone.

Pupils of all ages missing out on school can then find themselves under pressure to "catch up" and are often at risk of failing to reach their true potential.

The effect on individual pupils was seen as potentially devastating and having considerable consequences for the whole school.