A landmark court case in which a dad escaped conviction for taking his daughter on holiday during term time leaves parents confused by the rules, a head teacher warns.

Jon Platt was hauled before magistrates for whisking his 10-year-old and seven-year-old on a family break to Florida when they should have been in class.

He had refused a £60 fine and was prosecuted under the Education Act – but magistrates dismissed the case against him.

His case hinged on whether or not his daughter had attended school “regularly”.

Mr Platt said: "I'm not a lawyer, but I read the Act of Parliament that applied to this case.

"Under section 444 of the Education Act, subsection 1 ­– it's very clear, it's not complicated language – it simply says that a parent has committed an offence if a child does not attend school regularly and my daughter had excellent attendance at school.”

Mr Platt’s case, while not legally binding, is likely to see other parents refusing to pay fines when taking children out of class for family commitments.

Phil Karnavas, head teacher at Canterbury Academy, is warning that the ruling leaves parents unclear on how the regulations work.

He told KentOnline: “Legally a parent is committing an offence if their child does not attend regularly.

“However, DfE guidelines advise - with regard for holidays authorised by the school - that only in ‘exceptional circumstances’ should head teachers grant leave of absence.

“Typically, and unhelpfully, no definition of ‘regular’ or ‘exceptional’ is provided.”

It is not known in Mr Platt’s case whether he had asked to take his children from school and been refused, or if he had simply gone ahead and kept them from class.

The father, from the Isle of Wight, said he refused to pay the school’s fine because he didn’t feel he had done anything wrong.

"I've got two kids. I've got more than their education welfare to consider,” he told Sky News.

"I'm responsible for their emotional welfare too and it was my assessment that she would gain greatly by going on that holiday and I wasn't going to admit that I had done something wrong by taking her on holiday.”

He said his case was dismissed because he was able to show that his daughter’s attendance at school was regular, despite the holiday.

"On the council's own evidence, my daughter had attended a school regularly, there was no breach of the legislation, there is no legislation that says children cannot go on holiday in term time,” he said.

"I'm not interested in the guidelines, I'm interested in what the law says.

"The magistrates took the advice of a legally qualified clerk to the court, and came to the conclusion that there was no offence."

Mr Karnavas says that parents now seeking guidance or reassurance from the ruling will struggle to assess its implications.

“What is regular – 100% or 99% or what?” he said.

“For how long does a child need to attend before a pattern of regularity can be established – a term, a year, 3 years ?

“If regularity can be established then a parent would appear to be able to take their children out of school whenever they like for one holiday.

“Presumably after that holiday has been taken, then their attendance can no longer be regular and, thus, if they did it again they could be fined.”