Holiday in Term Time
Holidays and Attendance - advice and information about attendance and taking your children out of school during term time.
Taking-action-to-improve-attendance-leaflet.pdf and Taking-children-on-holiday-during-term-time.pdf
As parents you have a legal duty to ensure that your children attend school on a regular basis. The Education Act 1996 makes it a criminal offence for a parent to “fail to secure their child’s regular attendance at the school”. The recent amendments to the 2006 Regulations remove any reference to family holidays, extended leave and the statutory threshold of ten school days. The amendments also make it very clear that Principals may not grant any leave of absence (holiday) during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The amendments give parents no entitlement to take their child out of school for a holiday in term time and require the Principal and Governing Board to determine what the exceptional circumstances are. The decision will be made by me, the Principal, and/or Governor. We will use my/our discretion to consider each request individually.
If you feel there are exceptional circumstances:
- You must clearly state in your correspondence to me what you feel the exceptional circumstance is that requires the leave of absence being taken in term time.
- On receipt of the request, you will be sent a response indicating whether the school is able to authorise the leave of absence or not.
If parents, contrary to what the school has said, still decide to take their child out of school for a leave of absence then the absence will be coded as unauthorised. This will lead to the school referring the matter to the Local Authority requesting a Fixed Penalty Notice to be issued. Penalties for unauthorised absence
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I know that some parents/carers will find these measures severe but we believe that regular and high attendance is in every pupil’s best interests and helps to maximise their achievements and enjoyment of school. This letter reflects accurately the current legislation and, as a school, we have a duty to point this out to parents/carers
Yours sincerely,
Mrs Charlotte Clowes
Principal