Thursday 18^th June 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

The Trust has asked us to share the following information with you:

There has been an update in the guidance from the government on attendance. This will come into effect in September and we wanted to share with you how this will work.

This guidance is called ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ and is applicable from 19^th August 2024. The guidance reflects the need for children to attend school regularly to gain the best possible outcomes in school and further life.

We are committed to working in partnership with you to ensure your child makes the most of their education and achieves the best possible outcomes throughout their school career and further into life. Unbroken attendance at school is extremely important for learning. We should all be striving to reach 100% attendance.

Penalty notice fines

From September, if a child has 10 sessions (5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period then the school must consider issuing a penalty notice fine.  The 10 sessions of absence do not have to be consecutive and can be made up of a combination of any type of unauthorised absence (for example unauthorised holiday, unauthorised absence or late).  The 10-school week period can span different terms, school years or education settings.  This new guidance creates a new, single threshold for all schools in England. 

There is no entitlement in law for pupils to take time off during the term to go on holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure or recreation, or to take part in protest activity in school hours.  In addition, 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 sets out the statutory requirements for schools. All references to family holidays and extended leave have been removed. The amendments specify that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances.’ The fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional’ are events that are ‘rare, significant, unavoidable and short.’ By 'unavoidable' we mean an event that could not reasonably be scheduled at another time, outside of school term time. We have enclosed a copy of the new penalty notice fine structure for your reference.

We hope that you have found this letter useful and informative. Our approach is consistent with National Guidance and will enable all our pupils to access their full education and achieve future success. We at Children’s Endeavour Trust want to make attendance everybody’s priority.

If you have any questions, we would be happy to answer them.

Miss A Siddall and Dr Hall (Co-Headteachers)