Since September 2013, changes to Government regulations and guidance mean that Headteachers can no longer authorise leave of absence unless there are exceptional circumstances. All absences associated with a holiday (without exceptional circumstance) during term time will be marked as unauthorised within the register. Any parents known to have removed their child from school for the sole purpose of a holiday may be referred to the Local Authority and be issued with a penalty notice fine or referred to the Local Authority to consider prosecution.
We believe that children need to be in school for all sessions so that they can make the most progress possible. However, we do understand that there are times where a parent may legitimately request leave of absence for a child due to ‘exceptional circumstances’. At Barton Primary School, leave of absence is only granted at the discretion of the Headteacher and shall not be granted unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances’. Barton Primary School will respond to all applications for leave of absence in writing.
Parents wishing to apply for leave of absence during term time must apply in writing to the Headteacher at least a month before the planned leave. If a written request for leave of absence is not completed and the leave is taken without a request being submitted, the leave will not be considered by the Headteacher, and it will be marked as unauthorised. Barton Primary School will treat each application individually and discuss with you the circumstances of the application before a decision is made. Retrospective requests will not be considered and therefore will result in the absence being categorised as unauthorised. In such cases the school may make a referral to the Local Authority to request that a fixed penalty notice is issued or consider prosecution.
A penalty notice request or a referral for prosecution may be submitted to the Local Authority should:
- The parent fails to submit a leave of absence request in advance of taking the leave.
- An application for a leave of absence is not agreed by the Headteacher but is still taken.
- A longer period is taken more than the agreed number of days.
When absence is granted by the Headteacher, the parents will need to agree a date of return. If a pupil fails to return on the expected date and contact is not received from, or made with the parents, school will seek advice from the Local Authority. This could result in possible children missing from education procedures being instigated.
Application for pupil leave of absence from school during term time
School Attendance Policy September 2024
Punctuality
It is important for children to learn to be punctual. I would like to ask for your co-operation, as young children are dependent on being brought to school. A lot of time is wasted altering the dinner register and repeating instructions when children arrive after registration. It can be very frustrating for a child to miss a very important time of the lesson.
Most families have occasional mornings when things go wrong and we would rather the children arrived late than not at all.
