The Supreme Court school ruling ...

[Kaz]

Indeed they do, Cromwell

[Workingman]

Of course common sense must come into it, for all the reasons given, but the general thrust of the law has to be to stop people taking off on a whim. It is especially important for those in their GCSE years not to miss out nor to disrupt the rest of the classes learning as they play catch-up.

A single pupil going off might not be that disruptive, but when a number of them disappear at different times it can and does do damage.