We took our children out of school for three months about twenty years ago because I had the opportunity to work for that period in the US. We asked the school to provide the targets for the period for each child and my wife ensured that the children did a few hours work every day, not a whole day by any means. When we got back to Norway all three of the children were ahead of their classes.

In Norway there seems to be no requirement to attend school, only a requirement that the children be educated. The headmistress tried to pressure my wife to not take the children out but the only penalty she could apply was a vague threat that there might not be places available when they got back.

One idea that might reduce the problem that the UK has would be to adopt the Polish system of dividing the country into four school regions with staggered holidays.