EXCLUSIVE: Charlotte Crouch and her husband took their four kids out of school for five days for a family holiday in Gran Canaria during term time - and says the £480 school holiday fine was still worth it15:09, 09 Jul 2026Updated 07:06, 10 Jul 2026A defiant mum insists taking her children dolphin watching in Gran Canaria during term time was "educational" - and saved £2,500 despite facing a £480 school fine. Charlotte Crouch and her husband chose to withdraw their four children from school for five days to mark her dad and step-mum's 25th wedding anniversary in Gran Canaria, Spain, on June 1.‌The 36-year-old described it as a "no-brainer" as she saved £2,500 by arranging the holiday during term time rather than the summer break - even accounting for the fine.‌Despite being transparent with the school, the "cross" mum-of-four claims she was "punished" with a substantial fine from Devon County Council on June 30 for just three of her children.‌Local councils can impose a fine of £80 per parent for a child's unauthorised absence from school, including holidays taken during term time. If parents fail to pay the fine within a 21-day timeframe, the amount doubles. And if it remains unpaid, they may face prosecution.The content creator criticised the council's decision on Facebook, posting: "I think it's so wild that we can get fines for taking our kids on holidays. It was still cheaper than going in school holidays so meh'."‌Defiant Charlotte says she has "no regrets" and justifies the trip as "educational", maintaining her children learned to swim and observed dolphins in the wild.Charlotte, from Exeter, Devon, said: "It's a ridiculous amount of money to be fining me that much. It just feels so wrong, it feels like a money-making scheme."I knew I was going to get it. We factored it in and it was so much cheaper to go on the holiday and get a fine than it was to go during the school holidays.‌"For us it was a no-brainer. It's so much cheaper and it just makes sense to go and save the money. My husband does work in agriculture so it does make it trickier going in August holidays."It was a special holiday because it was my dad and stepmother celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary so they were having a vow renewal.‌Charlotte said it would be "heartbreaking" for her children to "miss out". She insisted that she wouldn't have done so if they were completing their GCSEs, and they weren't missing "super-valuable" school time.She claimed that they informed the school of the holiday and "didn't lie" and say the kids were unwell, adding that they were being "punished for doing the right thing.""[Holidays] can be educational because you have all these life skills in different countries. People think you can only learn in a school but that's like saying when you're 16 and leave school you're never going to learn again.‌"Going on holiday you're not learning maths, English and science but it's that time away, family time. I do think family time is so important."Learning to swim is a life skill. Obviously the national curriculum does put that in there but when you're on holiday you've got access to the pool 12 hours a day.‌"For us we took our children dolphin watching in the wild. For them learning those life skills, going on the plane and dealing with different people and different routines is so valuable."Charlotte said: "I don't have any regrets. Time is too short. You could be here today and gone tomorrow. My kids are normally in school every single day. School is important but it's not the most important thing in a child's life."She further claimed that schools were stuck between a "rock and a hard place" and were in a "difficult situation".‌"I think a lot of parents are in similar situations where they want to take their children on holiday and can afford to do it during term time but are scared to because they're going to prosecute you. That's just wrong."As a parent you should not be prosecuted for taking your child on a holiday, that's just fundamentally wrong. Just because that's the law [..] - some laws can be adapted and changed and made better."‌Devon County Council said that they cannot comment about individual cases.A spokesperson for Devon County Council said: "Schools must authorise pupils' absence during term time on a case-by-case basis, and grant leave only in exceptional circumstances."The Department for Education's guidance states that holiday is generally not considered an exceptional circumstance. We follow the national framework, which says that absences not approved by the school are treated as being unauthorised.Article continues below"Therefore, while we may have some sympathy about the costs of family holidays out of term time, parents who take their children out of school as unauthorised leave will expect a fine."