School Attendance |
From 19th August 2024 the government are providing statutory guidance with regards to school attendance. Statutory guidance sets out what schools and local authorities must do to comply with the law.
The guidance document is called Working together to improve school attendance, a copy of which can be found here; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance
The key points to the document, which are most likely to affect pupils and parents are as follows:
-Lateness to school should be discouraged and expectations should be set out in the attendance policy.
-Schools are only permitted to authorise absence from school in ‘exceptional circumstances’. The document goes on to state that “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.”
When a pupil has 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence within 10 weeks, a fixed penalty notice is issued by the local authority. The following sanctions apply over a rolling 3-year period:
- 1st offence - £160 fine per parent, per child (reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days).
- 2nd offence - £160 fine per parent, per child
- 3rd offence – Court hearing, up to £2,500 fine or 3 months in prison and a criminal record.
Lateness to school (school expectations)
Pupils are expected to:
- Be in their classrooms by 8:55am at the latest
- To be signed in by a parent/carer at reception (with the reason for lateness) if after 8.55am
Pupils arriving after 8.55am but before registers close, will be recorded as late (L) in the register.
Those pupils arriving after registration has closed will be entered on the register as arrived late after registration has closed (U). A ‘U’ code on the register is an unauthorised absence and counts towards a possible fixed penalty notice. The school’s attendance policy has been updated accordingly and can be found on the website.
