Attendance

There has been an amendment to the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 which has removed reference to holidays and the ten day period.

This in general means that as from the 1st September 2013, all schools are unable to authorise any requests for absence relating to holidays in term time and that absence can only be granted in exceptional circumstances e.g. illness, exclusions or due to other unavoidable causes. These changes reinforce the government’s view that every minute of every school day is vital.

This view has recently been reinforced by Ofsted who in a recently published report on a Devon school reported:

"Pupils clearly enjoy being at school. However, overall attendance is no better than average and this is in part due to some pupils being taken out of school for holidays during term time by their parents, in spite of the fact that the school has a clear and published policy that makes it clear that such absence is unauthorised. This absence has an impact on pupils’ achievement. As a result, the overall judgement for behaviour and safety is good rather than outstanding".

All requests for absence will be considered on a case by case basis following these guidelines.

Unfortunately we will be unable to consider any requests for absence based on the cost of holidays in the school holidays. However, we do need to bring to your attention that unauthorised absence can result in fines being issued to each parent per child (the fixed penalty fine is currently £120 per parent per child, reduced by 50% if paid within the first 21 days of notice) and/or legal proceedings being initiated by the Local Authority.

If you have any questions about the content of this letter then please contact: Orchard Vale on 01271 375074.

If you wish to submit an absence request, please fill in the downloadable form below and return it to the school office. It will then be processed and you will be notified of the outcome.