The topic of whether parents should be allowed to take their children on holiday during term time is something that has received a lot of discussion.

Due to the costs of travelling abroad during the school holidays, many parents say they are able to make huge savings by taking a break during term time.

However, some argue children missing out on time at school can affect their development.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has stated that fines for parents taking their children out of school for holidays are "here to stay".

Minimum fines, imposed by local authorities, for taking children out of class without permission for five school days will rise from £60 per child to £80 per child from August, BBC News reports.

Headteachers have some say over which cases they refer to the council for potential fines.

Due to the varied views on the subject, Good Morning Britain (GMB) debated the topic during their show on Friday (July 19)

Should parents be allowed to take their children on holiday during term time?

Hosts Rob Rinder and Charlotte Hawkins talked to parent Laura Melling and headteacher Mark Lehain on the subject.

Melling had taken her children on holiday during term time and said she had saved around £3,000 in the process compared to the price that break would have been in the school holidays.

When asked she said she stood by her decision adding: "In my eyes, my children are only young once, so they need to be able to see different areas of the world if that is possible. We are the parents, so we should have the right to say."

She also brought up teacher strike days that had occurred last year, arguing why it was okay for one group to decide not to attend but not the other.

Meanwhile, headteacher Lehain said he understood that holiday time was very important, stating he had four children of his own.

He added: "The key thing is though when we as parents choose to send our kids to school, and that is a choice that we make, we're choosing to sign like a social contract, and that social contract is you send your child to school every day.

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"Although it might feel at the end of term that things aren't still going on at a normal time, when I talk to my primary school colleagues they get a bit upset about it as they are working those kids to the final minute, right to the very end."

Good Morning Britain shared a poll on their X (formerly known as Twitter) page asking people if they thought it was right to fine parents for taking their children out of school during term time for a holiday.

At the time of writing, 35.1% have said yes whilst 64.9% said no.