Attendance & Absence

Why does attendance matter?

Research shows that there is a direct link between good attendance and achievement in school. Poor attendance can have a direct effect on a pupil’s attainment.

For example, 90% attendance might sound quite acceptable but what it really means in reality is…….

On average half a day’s school missed every week. (Would an employer think this is an acceptable rate of attendance?)
This would also mean in one year 4 whole weeks of schooling is missed.
In 5 years it would mean half of a school year missed

All members of staff in our schools understand how important attendance is and encourage a positive ethos regarding attendance for all young people.

Attendance is monitored regularly with any unexplained absence being investigated by contact with home to ascertain the reason for absence. If contact cannot be made the absence will be recorded as UNAUTHORISED.

It is the parent’s responsibility to inform the school of any absence.

The school contact for attendance matters is:

Name: Tracy Felstead

Tel. No: 01935 421295

Email: office@fairmeadschool.com

Major issues affecting school attendance

Term Time Leave

Young people who are taken out of school during term time may find it hard to catch up and this can have a detrimental effect on their learning.

The law states that parents do not have the right to take their children out of school for holidays during term time.

Any request for Term Time Leave must be made in writing to the Head Teacher in advance. Requests will not usually be granted. The Head Teacher will only authorise term time leave in EXCEPTIONAL circumstances according to DfE guidelines. It is not the school’s responsibility to issue work during term time leave as your young person should be attending school.

Any unauthorised absence, including term time leave not agreed with the school, could result in a Warning Penalty Notice being issued to each parent for every young person affected.

Medical

We would not expect any parent to send their young person to school if they were genuinely unwell. However, if your young person is going to be absent for 5 consecutive days we would request medical evidence to support the absence. Schools may request medical evidence sooner than this if a young person's attendance is poor.

If your young person is feeling ‘under the weather’ it is usually best to bring them into school. We will contact you if a young person becomes too unwell to remain in school.

Warning Penalty Notices

In school, one day = 2 sessions. Young people who have 10 unauthorised sessions of absence (5 days) within 10 weeks of school may be issued a Warning Penalty Notice or a Penalty Fine. The notice means that attendance is monitored especially carefully and any further absence could then result in a Penalty Fine of £80 per young person, per parent being imposed.

A parent who takes their young person out of school during term time after the Head Teacher has refused to authorise term time leave could also receive a Penalty Notice or a Penalty Fine.

Fairmead School has its own attendance policy displayed on it’s website which provides details of how all the attendance procedures are managed.

How much is a Penalty Notice?

£80 per parent per young person if payment is made within 21 days

£160 per parent per young person if paid after this but within 28 days

What happens if I get a Penalty Notice and I don’t pay?

You have up to 28 days from receipt to pay the Penalty Notice in full. If full payment is not received within this time the local authority is required under the Act to commence proceedings in the Magistrates Court for the original offence of unauthorised absence by your young person. If proven, this can result in fines of up to £1,000 and/or a range of disposals such as Parenting Orders or Community Sentences. If found guilty the parent will have a criminal record.

Term Time Absence information

Term Time Absence Request From

Please use this link to access the request form:

Term Time Absence Request Form

Term Time Absence Advice For Parents/Carers

All young people have a legal right to suitable, full-time education. There is no entitlement for young peoole to have time off from school during term-time for the purposes of a holiday, recreational or protest activity.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the definition of regular school attendance is “in accordance with the rules prescribed by the school.”

The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 set out the statutory requirements for schools:

all references to family holidays and extended leave have been removed, including the removal of the H code for approved leave,
headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are "exceptional circumstances",
headteachers do not have any discretion to authorise up to ten days of absence each academic year.

Fairmead School expects all young people to attend regularly. As such, any requests for term-time leave will be considered but only approved if the reasons and circumstances for that leave are exceptional and unavoidable. This decision rests with the headteacher.

All requests for term-time leave must be made in writing using the form above.

Any requests for leave that are not authorised will result in those absences being marked as unauthorised on the young person’s register.

Any leave taken during term-time without being requested will be unauthorised.

All unauthorised leave will be recorded on the young person’s register using the G code. Where those unauthorised absences hit the national threshold, Fairmead School will normally submit a penalty notice request to the Local Authority. Penalty notices may be issued to any parent/carer that the school believes enabled their young person to take the leave from school.

Term-time leave cannot be authorised retrospectively for any reason other than to correct an administrative error (e.g. where the holiday had been authorised by the headteacher but miscoded).

While it is not possible to provide a definitive list of exceptional circumstances, the following is a guide that Fairmead School will use to make decisions based on the reasons for the request being made:

the request is rare, or a one-off, significant, and unavoidable,
the request is of unique and significant emotional, educational, or spiritual value to the child, which outweighs any loss of teaching time (as determined by the headteacher),
the request is unavoidable, and could not be reasonably scheduled during school holidays, irrespective of who has planned or paid for the holiday or absence.

The headteacher may consult with other education settings or the Local Authority to decide whether specific circumstances are exceptional.

If a parent/carer reports their young person as absent for reasons of illness (or otherwise) but there is reasonable evidence that those absences were for a holiday or recreational purposes, those absences may be unauthorised, and a penalty notice is likely to be requested if the national threshold is met.