Attendance

Improving attendance is everyone’s business. The barriers to accessing education are wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families.

The Department for Education have published guidance which will be applicable from 19th August 2024 to all schools, LA’s and parents.

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 a school at which the child is a registered pupil, without good reason or the agreement of the school.

The definition of a parent is defined in section 576 of the Education Act (1996) as:

• the biological parents of a child, whether they are married or not
• any person who has parental responsibility for a child
• any person who has the care of a child i.e. lives with and looks after the child

If you are worried about your child’s attendance please speak to a member of our Attendance team as soon as possible.

We have a clear policy on school attendance including the procedure of how lateness is dealt with, sickness is recorded and supporting children who struggle to attend school regularly or who may experience difficulties when they are in school. Please view our current Attendance Policy on our website.

 

Requesting a leave of absence in term time

School can only agree a leave of absence for exceptional circumstances and all requests must be made in advance by a parent who the pupil normally lives with. Our Head teacher will consider each application individually, taking into account the specific facts and circumstances and relevant background context behind the request.

If a leave of absence is granted, it is for the Head teacher to determine the length of the time the pupil can be away from school. Generally, the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance. Therefore, any leave taken for the purpose of a holiday is unlikely to be regarded as an exceptional circumstance.

If a parent does not request the leave and it is suspected that the child has been taken on holiday, the parent will be informed in a letter from school and will be requested to provide evidence to support the reason for the leave of absence or to retrospectively submit a Request for Leave application to be considered by school.

Helping Parents understand Penalty Notice Fines for School Attendance

From 19 August 2024, there is a National Framework for Penalty Notice Fines being issued for unauthorised absences recorded by schools.  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.

 

National Threshold

A single consistent national threshold for when a Penalty Notice must be considered by ALL

schools in England, this is:

• 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a

rolling 10 school week period

• These sessions do not have to be consecutive and can be made up of a

combination of any type of unauthorised absence

• For example, a 5-day unauthorised leave of absence would meet the national

threshold

• The 10-school week period can span different terms or school years

 

Who may be fined?

Penalty Notice Fines are issued to each parent who allows their child to be absent without authorisation from school. For example, 3 siblings absent for unauthorised leave during term-time would result in each parent receiving 3 separate fines

 

First Offence

The first time a Penalty Notice is issued for unauthorised absence, the fine amount will be:

• • £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days
  • If not paid within 21 days, the fine will increase to £160 per parent, per child, payable between the 22nd and 28th day

 

Second Offence (within 3 years)

The second time a Penalty Notice is issued for unauthorised absence, a reduced rate is not

available. The amount therefore will be:

• • £160 per parent, per child – payable within 28 days

 

Third Offence and Any Further Offences (within 3 years)

The third time an offence is committed, a Penalty Notice WILL NOT be issued, and the case will be presented straight to the Magistrate’s Court

• Prosecution can result in criminal records and fines of up to £2,500.  Cases found guilty in a Magistrates Court can show on the parent’s future DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) certificate (Disclosure and Barring Service) due to a ‘failure to safeguard a child’s education’

 

For further guidance on the issuing of Staffordshire County Council penalty notices for unauthorised leave, the national threshold and the process of issuing penalty notices for unauthorised patterns of absence please see the full Code of Conduct:

Penalty Notice Code of Conduct July 24 FINAL