School holidays

I was doing a job at somebody's house yesterday, and we was talking about holiday's the bloke said he was off to south africa with the kid's and his mrs during term time at school, I said to him youll be fined, he said i dont think so mate they go to private school it dosen't apply.

I was wondering if this is true and if it is, it dosen't seem fair on people who cant afford fee paying school's