TERM TIME ABSENCE ADVICE FOR PARENTS

All children have a legal right to suitable, full-time education. There is no entitlement for children 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 pupils 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 this request form online https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=UYbSJpzr1Eyqo1M9LDUzggKUKQWrEXBFn-szGBnfg7BUQVpURVRJMjVITFZBSE9QVUJMS0FYVzlYTy4u or the form on the above.

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

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

All unauthorised leave will be recorded on the child’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 child 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 child 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.