Absence from school

If your child is absent from school, please call the school office between 8:30 and 9:00 to explain why they will not be attending. If your child has experienced diarrhoea or vomitting, you will need to keep your child away from school for 48 hours following their last bout. 

If you are unsure whether or not to send your child in, please be assured that we would send home your child if we felt they were not well enough to be in school.

From September 2013 the Department for Education have amended the Pupil Registration Regulations, removing the Head Teacher’s ability to authorise leave of absence for the purpose of a family holiday.

 Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 says that parents are guilty of an offence of failing to secure regular attendance at school unless they can prove that the child was absent:

  • with leave (the school has given permission)
  • due to sickness or any unavoidable cause (the sickness or unavoidable cause must relate to the child, not the parent)
  • religious observance
  • failure by the Local Authority to provide transport 

In law, these are the only acceptable reasons for a child being absent from school. 

 The Head Teacher may authorise absence in “exceptional circumstances” but this must be requested in advance and agreement to each request is at the discretion of the Head Teacher, acting on behalf of the Governing Body (Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006).  Each case will be judged on its merits and the Head Teacher’s decision is final. Once the decision not to authorise leave is taken, it cannot be authorised retrospectively.

Exceptional circumstances could include:

  •  Service personnel returning from a tour of duty abroad where it is evidenced the individual will not be in receipt of any leave in the near future that coincides with school holidays.
  • Where an absence from school is recommended by a health professional as part of a parent or child’s rehabilitation from a medical or emotional issue.
  • The death or terminal illness of a person close to the family.
  • To attend a wedding or funeral of a person close to the family.
  • Any examples provided are illustrative rather than exhaustive. It is acceptable to take a student’s previous record of attendance into account when the school is making decisions. The fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional’ are rare, significant, unavoidable and short. And by 'unavoidable' it implies that an event could not reasonably be scheduled at another time. It is important to note that Head Teachers can agree the absence of a child in exceptional circumstances and this discretion can be used also to determine the length of the authorised absence.

 If the absence is not authorised and the holiday is taken anyway, the case may be referred to the PRU, Inclusion and Attendance Service who may issue a Penalty Notice to each parent for each child taken out of school.

Failure to pay the penalty in full by the end of the 28 day period will result in prosecution by the Local Authority.

To make an absence request, please complete this form and return to the headteacher. For more information on attendance, please see our attendance policy.