It is obviously very important that children attend school regularly. We look forward to working in partnership with you to support your children’s learning and their individual needs to help them achieve their potential.

We are required to keep and monitor records of attendance, absence and lateness and the details are submitted to the Local Authority (LA).

General Absence

When children are away from school please inform  us before 9.00am on each day of absence. Wherever possible, medical appointments should be made outside of the school day

Why is regular school attendance so important for my child?

Regular attendance at school means that your child can make the most of their education, improving their chances in adult life. School can also help your child’s social skills such as making and developing friendships. A regular and punctual attendance pattern will help your child when they enter the world of work. The link between attendance and attainment in school is clear. The more a pupil is in the school the more they increase their opportunity to fulfil their potential.

Does your child have high attendance levels?  Attendance also includes late arrivals or early departures.  These all have a significant effect on your child's learning.  

Term Time Holidays

As you are aware the Department for Education (DFE) updated guidance on improving school attendance, effective from 19th August 2024 in collaboration with the Local Authority.

The change in legislation indicates that Head Teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless they consider there to be exceptional circumstances. We know that Government research shows that there is a very strong link between regular school attendance and academic achievement.  The Government advise that an attendance rate of less than 95%, in any one academic year, will have a detrimental effect on a child’s education. 

Due to the above, the Academy will no longer be granting parents/carers time off to take their children on holiday.  As of 19^th August 2024, the national threshold for issuing a penalty notice in England is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence within a 10-week period.  This typically equates to 5 school days. (e.g. 4 sessions of holiday taken in term time plus 6 sessions of arriving late after the register closes all within 10 school weeks).  These sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one week) or not (e.g. 6 sessions of unauthorised absence taken in 1 week and 1 per week for the next 4 weeks).  The period of 10 school weeks can also span different terms or school years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the Summer Term and a further 8 within the Autumn Term).

A Penalty Notice can be issued under the following legislation:  

• Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 places upon parents a duty to ensure that their child receives efficient full-time education either by regular attendance at school or otherwise  
• Where a child is a registered pupil at a school and the parent fails to ensure that child’s regular attendance at school the parent is liable to be prosecuted for a criminal offence under Section 444 of the Education Act  
• In cases where this duty is not being fulfilled Section 444B of the same Act empowers the Local Authority to issue a Penalty

If you wish to seek approval for any request of absence for your child(ren) from School, then you must apply in writing to the Headteacher, at least four weeks in advance of the requested period. You should only remove your child(ren) if the absence has been authorised, and notified to you in writing by the School.  Any exceptional circumstances must be clearly set out in the written request to the Headteacher who will consider each case upon its merits.

If you then choose to take your child out of school during term time and it is not deemed to be exceptional circumstances and/or has not been approved by the School, then this will be coded as an unauthorised absence and a Fixed Penalty Notice may be issued for the period of absence. 

The money raised from these fines is retained by the Local Authority and the school does not receive any of this. We will continue to work with families to support as much as we can with attendance and further information can be found in our school attendance policy on our website.

The form below must be completed and returned to the school office. The application will be considered carefully and we will notify you of the school’s decision within 10 working days.  We strongly advise that no leave of absence be booked prior to receiving this decision.