Attendance - every day counts!
As you will be aware the Department of Education have published statutory guidance in relation to improving school attendance, which will apply from 19th August 2024. We thought it would be useful to share the following with you in advance of that date.
Fines for parents for taking children out of school: What you need to know
Every moment in school counts and days missed add up quickly. Evidence shows that pupils who have good attendance enjoy better wellbeing and school performance than those who don't. There are only a few circumstances where a child is allowed to miss school, such as illness or where the school has given permission because of an exceptional circumstance.
However, if your child misses’ school without a good reason, local councils and schools can intervene and you may be issued a fine.
We’re also introducing a new national framework which will mean all councils have the same rules in place for when they need to consider a fine. We explain more on this below.
It’s important to acknowledge that children with long-term medical or more serious mental health conditions, and those with special educational needs and disabilities may face additional barriers. For children who face complex barriers to attendance, schools should have sensitive conversations with children and families and work with them to put support in place for their individual needs.
How much could I be fined if my child misses’ school?
In the majority of cases, schools and local authorities will try and provide support to help you improve your child’s attendance first, but if this isn’t effective or the absence is for unauthorised term time holiday, parents may face paying a fine. Currently, it’s the responsibility of the local authority to decide when to issue fines to parents, meaning the
process varies from council to council. However, under the new national framework, all schools will be required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons.
From August 2024, the fine for school absences across the country will be £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. This rate is in line with inflation and is the first increase since 2012.
In the case of repeated fines, if a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160.
Fines per parent will be capped to two fines within any three-year period. Once this limit has been reached, other action like a parenting order or prosecution will be considered.
If you’re prosecuted and attend court because your child hasn’t been attending school, you could get a fine of up to £2,500.
Money raised via fines is only used by the local authority to cover the costs of administering the system, and to fund attendance support. Any extra money is returned to the government.
We will be sharing our Attendance policy with you when we return after the summer break but we will be following the Government guidelines outlined above regarding attendance and absences.
Please find attached a one-page document that gives a brief outline of the above that you may want to keep for reference.
Attendance matters!
Mrs Thompson (Headteacher), Mrs Allenson (Deputy Headteacher) and Mrs Unwin (Admin team) are the lead people when it comes to attendance and punctuality at Waltham Leas Primary School.
Every day the children’s attendance and punctuality is recorded on our school system. We work closely with the Local Authority and Attendance Matters (our Education Welfare Officers) to monitor attendance and punctuality across the school. We look for things that we can put into place to improve attendance and lateness and to support families who need help with getting children into school on time every day. We want to avoid children becoming ‘persistently absent’ (below 90%).
We aim as a school for our attendance to be equal to or above 97% as this means children are accessing learning almost every day. Each week the class with the highest attendance wins the Attendance Award during our celebration assembly. The class with the highest attendance across the term win a prize too. We really appreciate the support families provide in ensuring children attend school.
We understand that sometimes children do get poorly and that they are too unwell to be in school. If you do keep your child at home, it's important that you phone the school office to let them know that your child won't be in and to give them the reason. You will need to make sure you keep in contact with the school on a daily basis with an update about your child's illness.
If you don’t contact school, we will call home to try and obtain a reason for absence. If no reason is provided, school may carry out a visit – this is to check on the welfare of your child and you.
It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they're unwell. Click here for the NHS guidelines that say when children should be kept off school and when they shouldn't.
We sent new national information regarding fines for holidays in term time before the Summer holidays and this has now begun. Penalty notices are issued for unauthorised absences (when a child is kept off school unnecessarily, including term time holidays). They have now been capped nationally at 2 fines within a 3 year period. After this, prosecution has to be considered.
For more information about attendance and punctuality at Waltham Leas, please look at our school Attendance Policy on the website or come in and chat to Mrs Allenson. Remember every minute counts in school and we aim to support you as much as possible.
