August 2024

Important changes in the law regarding school attendance, term time holidays and the issuing of penalty notices when children are absent from school.

The Department for Education have significantly toughened the law in relation to school attendance and have published revised guidance that will become mandatory in all schools from September 2024. Please ensure you read the following information carefully. A new National Framework for Penalty Notices has been introduced and these new regulations came into effect from the 19^th August 2024. The aim is to improve consistency in the use of penalty notices across England.

Within the framework, there is a single consistent national threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered:

• If a child is absent for 10 or more unauthorised sessions (equivalent to five school days) within a rolling ten school week period. Half a day (am or pm) is considered as a ‘session’. Please note: the threshold of 10 sessions can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence, for example, eight sessions of unauthorised holidays in term time and two sessions for other unauthorised reasons. The ten-school week period may span different terms or school years, for example: 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the Summer Term and a further 8 in the Autumn term.
• The new rules mean you will no longer be able to take your child out of school for one week’s holiday without a penalty notice being issued. No holidays are authorised in term time.
• There is an increase in the penalty fine (from £60 to £80) if paid within 21 days. If the fine is not paid by the first 21 days, it will rise to £160 with no option to pay the lower rate of £80
• If a second penalty notice is issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling three-year period, the notice will be charged at the higher rate of £160 with no option for this second offence to be lowered to £80.
• There is a national limit of two penalty notices that can be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling three-year period so, at the 3^rd offence, legal action/prosecution will be considered.
• Where a penalty notice is unpaid, legal action would be pursued.

This means that if you apply for leave of absence to take place during term time from September 2024, and the school has not agreed to authorise it, you will receive a penalty notice at the level prescribed by the new framework.

We believe good attendance is essential to support your child in getting the most out of their education and we thank you for your continued support. The full guidance from the DFE can be found online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance

We continue to appreciate the amazing support that you give our school in ensuring that your child is given the very best start to life. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Cheryl Thompson, Assistant Head (Community and Communication).

Please remember that this is a national framework and is not unique to Ashmead School.

Attendance at Ashmead School

Unbroken attendance at school is important for learning. However, we also understand that there will be times when absence is unavoidable and acceptable. This letter explains the approaches we are following to manage attendance.

Illness and First Day Call

Children can attend school if they have minor symptoms. Parents will need to make a judgement if a child is too ill to attend school. When your child is unable to attend school through illness, you should inform us by telephone on the first day of absence. The phones are generally manned from 7.30am and you should aim to call us before 9.00am which is when morning registers are taken. Alternatively, you can email us at office@ashmeadschool.org.uk if you prefer. If you do not supply us with this information, we have a duty of care to contact you so we may be sure of a child’s whereabouts (this is an important safeguarding measure). If we have been unable to contact you to establish the reason for your child’s non-attendance, then it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. As explained in the new guidelines, these can lead to penalty fines.

For absences longer than two days, we request that you keep in touch with the school daily and inform us as soon as possible of your child’s return date to school. If you are unsure whether to send a child into school or not, you should send them in and let the school know your concerns so they can monitor the situation and send the child home as appropriate.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infectious-diseases-schools-and-other-childcare-settings/how-long-should-you-keep-your-child-off-school-checklist-poster-text-version

If a child is ill, these absences are recorded as authorised by the school. If we have concerns over excessive absence patterns through illness, we will need to discuss this with you in order to gain a better understanding of any underlying problems and to offer our support. We may ask for medical proof or for permission to contact the child’s GP. Without this, repeated absences will need to be recorded as unauthorised.

Medical/Dental Appointments

It is generally better if these can be arranged outside school hours, but we know this is not always possible. Where children need to attend such appointments during the school day, it is important they are brought to school before their appointment, and returned promptly afterwards, to ensure minimal lesson time is missed. Medical and dental appointments count as authorised absences.

We are already aware of children who experience serious long-term medical conditions, and this is obviously taken into consideration. However, it is important that the attendance team are fully aware of such circumstances. If a child needs ongoing treatment, this should be discussed with the school. We can arrange education support for children with medical needs.

Emergency Occasions

There may be some occasions e.g. bereavement, family problems etc where it may be inappropriate for children to attend school; we will be sympathetic to such needs where possible, and authorise the absence if it is exceptional, (this means rare, significant, unavoidable and short).

Lateness

Please try to ensure that your child arrives at school so that they are present for registration; this is completed at 9.00am each day but children are welcome to enter school from 8.40am, ready for learning to start at 8.45am. The meeting and exchanging of news with friends before school is important for a child’s social development. Lateness can cause additional problems, such as missing instructions from teachers about the format of the day. It can also be embarrassing for your child and lead to increased stress if they have to walk in late to a session, as well as being detrimental to their learning. Worryingly, it all adds up over time; for instance, missing just 15 minutes each day is the equivalent to missing 10 days learning over a school year. Because of the new national framework for attendance, if your child is frequently late into school, this may now result in a penalty fine.

Holidays in term time

For all term time holidays, please inform the school at least 4 weeks in advance. Please be aware that the new legislation does not allow schools to authorise any holidays in term time. If you decide to take your child on holiday during term time, and without permission, term time holiday absence will be reported as a matter of course to the County Attendance Team; we are under a duty to do this. Where unauthorised leave is taken, the Governing Body supports the imposition of a fixed penalty fine. This can become very expensive.

What is considered poor attendance?

We strive for 95% and anything below this is considered to be unsatisfactory. As parents, you play a vital role in your child’s academic success. The first step to academic achievement is establishing excellent school attendance habits. Our expected attendance of 95% or above for the year allows for 9.5 days of absence.

Persistent Absenteeism (PA)

Below 90% is regarded as persistently absence by the Department for Education. A child becomes a ‘persistent absentee’ when they miss 10% or more schooling across the school year for whatever reason. Absence at this level interferes with any child’s education and we need your fullest support and co-operation to tackle this. If we are concerned with the frequency of absences, we will not authorise absences without medical proof. Examples of accepted forms of medical proof include hospital appointment letters, text messages and screenshots of prescribed medication.

How do we monitor attendance?

At Ashmead, we monitor each child’s attendance weekly, and all reasons for absence thoroughly. Any case that has reached the PA mark, or is at risk of moving towards the mark, is given priority and we will inform parents immediately. Each week, we identify any pupils whose attendance has fallen below 90%. If we feel that intervention is required, we will take an action (this could be in the format of an email, invitation to meet with a member of the attendance team, a phone call or an attendance letter). We then monitor the attendance over a period of five more weeks and expect to see a pattern of unbroken weeks developing. If a child is persistently absent, the headteacher may decide to refer the child to the County Attendance team. This is likely to happen when attendance is below 90%, multiple absences have occurred in the previous 8 weeks and the majority of absences are unauthorised.

Intervention Flow Chart

The effects of irregular attendance

A pupil who has 80% attendance misses an equivalent of three whole years in their school life. It has been shown that missing too much school can cause:

• Academic stress or anxiety
• Poorer outcomes for the child
• Disruptions to the rest of the class
• Difficulty forming or maintaining friendships

Mental Health

Mental health, rightly, has a high priority. We are mindful of children with mental health difficulties and work with parents and children to overcome these. This in itself, is not a reason to not attend school. While acknowledging mental health challenges, it remains important that these difficulties do not prevent school attendance. We are committed to working collaboratively with families affected to address these issues effectively. The new guidance acknowledges “many children will experience normal but difficult emotions that make them nervous about attending school, such as worries about friendships, schoolwork, examinations or variable moods”. But it is “important to note that these pupils are still expected to attend school regularly”.

We have an active Pastoral Support Team who are on hand to provide support for these children and any support will be handled sensitively and on an individual basis.

Home Visits

We will visit parents and children in their houses and undertake assessments of the causes of poor school attendance. We identify strategies and create action plans to resolve difficulties and improve school attendance.

Types of Absence

Each absence from school is classed as authorised or unauthorised. Absences are coded as authorised where reasons are considered valid, and unauthorised where no explanation or unacceptable reasons are given. A school will generally grant permission when a child is too sick to attend, or in exceptional circumstances such as a death in the family.

Unacceptable Reasons

The following are examples of unacceptable reasons for school absence:

1. Shopping visits
2. Birthday ‘day off’
3. Care for family members
4. Days out to theme parks etc
5. Parents’ work commitments
6. Holidays taken in term time
7. Parental illness
8. Accompanying parents or siblings to their appointments

Support First

The importance of regular attendance at school cannot be stressed enough. All schools are expected to promote school attendance and provide support to remove barriers where a child is struggling to attend school. This may mean that we raise the issue of attendance even if your child has only been absent for a few days; this is not because we don’t believe that your child is ill. By working with you, we can step in early to help prevent patterns of absence developing. We can help identify underlying issues that might be making your child reluctant to attend school. For this to be successful, parents need to work with the school. Where it can be demonstrated that a parent is not fulfilling their parental responsibility to ensure that their child receives a suitable full-time education, then the school can consider requesting that the Local Authority take further action.

Our duty of care

We have a duty of care, shared with the Local Authority, to challenge poor attendance. If attendance levels are low, where there are invalid reasons for a child’s frequent absence, or parents condone absence (e.g. by taking children out of school on unauthorised holidays), then parents render themselves liable to a fine of £80 per person per parent. This would be doubled if the fine is unpaid within 21 days and could ultimately lead to a criminal conviction. Of course, no one wants this to happen but we need to be very clear about the issue.

We hope that these notes will help you to have a clear understanding about the school’s high expectations in this matter. If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance, please don’t hesitate to contact the school who will offer support for you and your family.