Attendance Matters!
Be on time
Requesting an Absence from School
Every minute of every school day is vital and pupils will only be granted authorised absence by the school in exceptional circumstances. A family holiday is not normally considered by the Government to be exceptional and therefore, no term time holidays will be authorised by the school.
Our school will only grant term time holidays or leave of absences in EXCEPTIONAL circumstances, we do not consider a family holiday exceptional.
If a parent or carer wishes to request a period of leave of absence for their child, they are required to write to the Headteacher by completing the appropriate leave of absence form, which can be downloaded below or a copy can be obtained from the school office.
This should be done before any flights, holiday bookings or other arrangements are made.
There is no entitlement to time off in term time.
A school can only grant Leave of Absence if
- A request for leave of absence is submitted before leave is taken
- And the Headteacher believes the reason is exceptional
If this request is unauthorised by the school, a penalty notice may be issued by Devon County Council. A penalty notice offers a parent the opportunity of dealing with a potential offence without going to court, by paying a penalty. If parents can’t afford to pay, or for any other reason do not take the offer of paying the notice within a set time, then the case will proceed to a magistrates court. The provision of penalty notices is set by Regulations and the amount of the penalty, timeframe for payment or payment method are not able to be varied by Devon County Council.
Parents should note that a maximum of two penalty notices per parent per child will be issued within a three year period. The third and any further subsequent ‘offence’ within the three year period alternative action may be taken. This will often include considering prosecution, but may include other tools such as one of the other attendance legal interventions.
From 19th August 2024, following changes to secondary legislation, the amount charged in a penalty notice was increased.
- The first penalty notice issued will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This is reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
- The second penalty notice issued will be charges at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days
- If a Penalty Notice goes unpaid after 28 days, then court proceedings will be initiated
Further information regarding School Absence Penalty Notices can be found here on the Devon County Council website.
Attendance and Last day of term finish time.
As you are probably aware the government have been highly concerned about the continued falling attendance rates this year and in schools year on year since the Covid pandemic. The DfE are mounting a campaign through schools to ensure parents are aware of the implications of missing learning time in school. Although the emphasis is more on secondary education than primary, we at the Link are supporting that initiative by reviewing our approach.
An initial action will be to ensure that pupils are in school to the very end of the school day at the end of each term, pupils will not be leaving earlier than the published end of the school day. We felt it was only fair that we made this clear to parents early in the term to avoid any problems nearer the time.
Attendance concerns will continue to be dealt with robustly and in support of the campaign we will be sending DfE generated/ suggested reminders out to ensure you are all kept well informed.
Many thanks for your understanding regarding this national drive.