You are required under the Education Act (1996) to ensure your child attends school regularly. There is, however, a discretionary power held by Headteachers to authorise absence in exceptional circumstances. There is no longer a provision in law for Headteachers to authorise an absence, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Family holidays and/or family celebrations are not considered to be exceptional circumstances.
Irregular attendance is considered to be attendance of below 90% which is not due to serious illness and is not improving.
Support and guidance on attendance is always available and if you have any questions about this, or if you need help to achieve an improvement, please contact your child’s school to discuss this. Where there are two parents with parental responsibility, both parents must agree to the request.
The Local Authority’s decision to issue a fixed Penalty Notice is based on information submitted by the school. Triggers for the fixed Penalty Notice will be:
• 5 days or more continuous absence.
• Or can be used as a sanction for irregular attendance. A penalty notice may be issued in this instance where a pupil accumulates 10 sessions (a school day is two sessions – morning and afternoon) of unauthorised absence within a 6 week period.
It is important that parents understand that the initial fixed penalty notice of £60 is issued to each parent for each child. A two-parent family with two children would be fined £240
