OK and for what it's worth it would most definitely be a contestable case (yours) had they refused. I'm still very uncomfortable with this Pratt case though and I know you say it's just that he refused to pay the fine but I kinda like that he stood his ground, it can't have been easy being pursued through all the courts in the land over the past 2 years. And it wasn't just a holiday that could have been taken at any time, there were 17 other family members going, all trying to co-ordinate their life schedules, some of them may have only been able to afford to go on the dates that they went. It would be awful to think that the guy and his kids would have had to miss out on such an enriching family experience because a head teacher decided that 7 days off school for a 6 year old was against the rules. Some rules are just meant to be broken!