Leave of Absence
School Attendance Policy
LEAVE DURING TERM TIME
As you know children’s attendance at school is extremely important and being regularly absent will affect your child’s ability to learn and do well. Both schools in the Federation work hard with their communities to support families to maintain high standards and high attendance levels – as always, we thank you all for your on-going support with this.
As you are aware from 1st September 2013, “the regulations make clear that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Headteachers should determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted”.
This does means that no leave of absence/holidays can be taken during term time. If you take your child on holiday, it will be unauthorised from day one and then there will be a fine imposed. I know the frustration at the prices of holidays during school holidays and term time – something I wish could be changed (and should be changed)!
Regulations for taking term time leave are reviewed on an individual basis, as they always have been. The regulations from August 2024, have not changed this element of the legislation.
I hope the below information allows you to understand the attendance regulations the Federation has to follow and how they could impact you and your family moving forward:
In February 2024, the Department for Education published Working together to improve School Attendance. Within this document, in Chapter 6, it lays out current structure to issuing penalty notices. Please find the full document here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance
If you take unauthorised leave, you could face a Penalty Notice whereby you will be fined. Penalty Notice paperwork will be sent to the Education Welfare Department following any period of 5 days or more of unauthorised absence. This applies to all parent/carers who have an active role in overseeing the education of the child/children.
Regular and punctual attendance at school is both a legal requirement and essential for pupils to maximise their educational opportunities. In recognition of this, the law makes it an offence for a parent or carer to fail to secure the regular attendance of their child at the school at which the child is a registered pupil, without good reason or the agreement of the school. This also includes arriving at school each day and being late. Being classified as ‘late’ will coincide with your child’s ‘start’ time. They will be ‘late’ if they are 10 minutes later than their start time (for example 8.45am start time will make arriving after 8.55am late). The ‘late’ will then be recorded as an unauthorised absence if your child is 30 minutes later than their start time, as it always has been (for example 8.45am start time will make arriving after 9.15am classified as an unauthorised absence).
Penalty Notices are one of the sanctions available for this offence and offer a means of swift intervention, which can be used to combat attendance problems before they become entrenched.
Therefore, Penalty Notices and other sanctions will only be used where parental co-operation with this process is either absent or deemed to be insufficient to resolve the problem. They will be used as a means to support and challenge parents to meet their legal responsibilities and where there is a reasonable expectation that their use will secure improved school attendance.
Changes to the attendance at school laws came through the Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. These changes to the regulations are significant so it is important to ensure you understand so that you can consider the consequences for your family before taking leave in term time.
Two penalty notice limit in a three-year period
There is a three-year rolling period from when an initial Penalty Notice is given out. The three-year rolling period starts for parents when the first penalty notice is issued to them after August 2024.
The first Penalty Notices for leave in term time will increase to £160 per parent per child but can be reduced to £80 per parent per child if paid within 21 days.
If a second penalty notice is issued, within three years of the first penalty notice, then this will be at a fixed rate of £160 per parent per child, with no reduction for early payment. A third penalty notice cannot be issued within the three-year period; therefore, the County Council will deal with any further unauthorised leave through prosecution in the Magistrates Court. If the parent is found guilty, the potential fine is up to £1000.
National threshold for issuing penalty notices
You may have heard about the national threshold for issuing Penalty Notices, which has been set at 10 sessions (5 school days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. However, if in an individual case the Local Authority believes a Penalty Notice would be appropriate, they retain the discretion to issue one before the threshold is met. For example - where parents are deliberately avoiding the national threshold by taking several term time holidays below threshold, or for repeated absence for birthdays or other family events.
After 20 consecutive days of unauthorised absence your child will be removed from the school register and lose their place at the school. This is Government legislation which the school has to comply with.
Each term both schools will write to the parents whose child’s attendance has fallen below 95% (over the year this is the equivalent 10 days of absence) which is a legal requirement for all schools. Of course, there are genuine illnesses for most absences from school, and children need time at home to rest and recuperate from these. As a Federation, we will only send the children home if they are also genuinely poorly, so we can support this as too!
However, if your child has more than 5 days of unauthorised illness, then you could potentially receive a Penalty Notice leading to a fine. This applies to all parent/carers who have an active role in overseeing the education of the child/children. This also applies for children who are persistently late for school (30 minutes after the register closes is recorded as an unauthorised absence). 10 days of persistent lateness could potentially receive a Penalty Notice leading to a fine. This applies to all parent/carers who have an active role in overseeing the education of the child/children.
If you wish to request leave of absence during term time, then a leave of absence form must be completed and returned to the school office. Leave of absence forms can be obtained from the school office or downloaded from the link below.
For the School Attendance Policy click here