Holidays in Term Time
As you will have noticed, the Government have made some major statutory changes to the laws about pupil attendance.
The changes have been made to the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006. The amendments make it very clear that Head teachers may no longer grant leave of absence for family holidays during term time. This means, that from 1 September 2013, headteachers can not authorise absence requests for family holidays.
The Government has also instructed Local Authorities to enforce these changes through a system of Penalty Notices. The details of these are as follows:- Section 444(A) of the Education Act 1996 empowers the local authority to issue Penalty Notices for failure to ensure regular school attendance. Parents or carers who take their children out of school without school’s permission or are late returning from a leave of absence that has been granted during term time as there are exceptional circumstances, may receive a Penalty Notice fine of £60 per parent per child, which must be paid within 21 days . If payment is made after 21 days but within 28 days, the penalty is increased to £120. Where a fine remains unpaid after 28 days, the matter will be referred to the Attendance and Welfare Service, who will consider instigating criminal proceedings.
Farnborough Road Schools have always had good attendance records and we are proud of our relationships with families in the local community. We hope all parents understand the school has to follow legislation and that you will support us in this matter.