Summer is the time to get your child's education back on track

School's out for summer and kids up and down the land are looking forward to six weeks lounging on sofas and ensuring the curtains are never pulled back in case a glimmer of light might force them to squint at the TV screen.

Exhausted parents are torn between giving in grumpily to this inertia or, overcome with guilt, dragging their kids at dawn to tennis and football internment camps where they can be detained for six hours at a stretch.

Some may weaken and consider their offspring deserve the treat of a day at a theme park, or at least they will until they see the admission prices: £64 at the gate for three-year-olds and over at Chessington, £68 at Alton Towers and £66 for those over 90cm tall at Legoland, although admittedly all have considerable discounts for booking in advance.