Introduction

Improving attendance is everyone’s responsibility. The barriers to accessing education are wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families. The foundation of securing good attendance is that school is a calm, orderly, safe, and supportive environment where all pupils want to be and are keen and ready to learn.

Working Together to Improve School Attendance

Successfully treating the root causes of absence and removing barriers to attendance, at home, in school or more broadly requires schools and local partners to work collaboratively with families.

Some pupils find it harder than others to attend school and therefore at all stages of improving attendance, schools and partners should work with pupils and parents to remove any barriers to attendance by building strong and trusting relationships and working together to put the right support in place. Securing good attendance cannot therefore be seen in isolation, and effective practices for improvement will involve close interaction with schools’ efforts on curriculum, behaviour, bullying, special educational needs support, pastoral and mental health and wellbeing, and effective use of resources, including pupil premium. It cannot solely be the preserve of a single member of staff, or organisation, it must be a concerted effort across all teaching and non-teaching staff in school, the local authority, and other local partners.

Raise the profile of attendance

Schools can raise the profile of attendance with parents and the wider community through the use of home-school agreements, parents’ evenings, school newsletters, or other medium.

What should I do if my child is absence from school or I am worried about my child’s attendance?

Schools should emphasise parents’ prime responsibility for ensuring attendance by asking parents to inform them as soon as possible if their child will not be attending school on a particular day. If a pupil is absent without explanation, school should contact the parents that same day, including in cases where the pupils truant lessons after registration. By contacting the parent, the school also ensures that the parent is aware that their child is not in school enabling the parent to take steps, where necessary, to establish that their child is safe.

Involving Parents

Evidence shows that early identification, conversations and relationships are key in tackling poor school attendance. Conversations with pupil and parents should take place to discuss attendance concerns, identify areas of support that are needed and put in place an effective written and reviewed plan.

Regular communication with parents is crucial in raising the profile of school attendance and punctuality. Some examples of engaging; notice boards, letters home, texts, emails, school website, phone calls home and face to face discussions and meetings.

Personal Attendance Plan and/or offer of Early Help Assessment

We know that barriers to attendance can be wide and varied for many children. Taking time to understand the child’s point of view and work together with both parents, child and the school is essential to agreeing an effective written and reviewed plan of support.

A personal attendance plan or early help assessment can be used to support in identifying barriers to attendance and agreeing a plan of support with both the child and family.

School are partners should work together to:

Graduated response to attendance

The guidance below sets out the expectations of actions that you should consider taking at each stage of a child’s absence.

Legal process and information for parents

Regular and punctual attendance at school is both a legal requirement and essential for pupils to maximise their educational opportunities.

Sanctions of any nature are for use only where parental co-operation in this process is either absent or deemed insufficient to resolve the presenting problem. They are never used as a punishment, only as a means of enforcing attendance where there is a reasonable expectation that their use will secure an improvement.

Penalty Notices

A penalty notice can be issued to parents or carers who don’t ensure that their child goes to school on a regular basis. The penalty notice is £160 per parent per child. If paid within 21 days this is reduced to £80 per parent per child for a first offence.

The issuing of a Penalty Notice is appropriate in the following circumstances:

•             following 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a term

•             parentally condoned absences

•             unauthorised leave of absence in term- time

•             late arrival at school after the register has closed

Consequences of not attending school

Education Penalty Notice (EPN)

With effect from the 19 August 2024, the law changed and penalty notices have increased. Penalty charges are £160 if paid within 28 days reducing to £80 if paid within 21 days per parent/carer per child.

The National Framework for Penalty Notices introduces a new national limit of two penalty notices that can now be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling three year period. If a second Education Penalty Notice is issued to the same parent for the same child, within three years of the first Fixed Penalty Notice, the second Fixed Penalty Notice is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.

Once two Education Penalty Notices have been issued, if a third unauthorised leave of absence occurs within a three year period, the Local Authority is able to move to prosecution immediately.

Overview

Parents have a legal duty to make sure that their children attend school from the term in the term in which they turn age 5  to the last Friday in June in the academic year which they turn 16.  

Parents and pupils are expected to work with school staff to improve and maintain regular school attendance, the school will offer advice and support around issues such as bullying etc. The school will do their best to help you and your child to improve their attendance prior to taking any formal action.

Regular absences from school can affect:

• Attainment levels - the quality of school work and qualifications gained
• School routine - disrupting your child’s learning and that of the other pupils
• The chances of children and young people being involved in anti-social behaviour a child or young person’s general wellbeing and long-term life opportunities
• Improving regular attendance at school is therefore a key priority, both locally and nationally.

Taking your children out of school may affect their education, for example:

• They may find it difficult to catch up on work they’ve missed – for example, if they need to complete any GCSE coursework or if they’re due to take any exams or tests (SATs etc)
• If children already struggle with subjects such as Maths or English, they can find it more difficult when they return
• Young children may find it challenging to get back into their friendship groups after a break
• Missing time during the first year at a new school or the beginning of a term can leave children unsure what to bring to lessons, experiencing timetable mix-ups and struggling to make new friends. 

School absence legislation

Parents have a duty under section 7 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure that their child receives full-time education suitable to their age, ability either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

Under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996, parents or carers may be taken to court and prosecuted if their child does not attend school regularly and their absences are unauthorised.

In 2003, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act provided an alternative means of tackling non-attendance in schools. Under Section 23 of the Act, Local Education Authorities and other designated bodies were given the powers to issue Penalty Notices to parents or carers who are considered capable of but unwilling to work towards improving their child’s attendance.

If your child has unauthorised or irregular attendance, then the school will notify us and we may make the decision to issue you with an Education Penalty Notice (EPN).

Taking children on holiday in term time

Improving regular attendance at school is a key priority for local authorities and government alike. The Education Act 1996 makes it a criminal offence for a parent to 'fail to secure their child’s regular attendance at the school'.

In 2013, the Department for Education (DFE) announced important amendments to legislation surrounding the taking of holidays in term time.

As of 1 September 2013, the legislation which previously granted Head Teachers the discretion to approve up to two weeks (ie ten school days) leave of absence during term time for the purposes of a family holiday in special circumstances has changed.

The Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006 (as amended) now state that a leave of absence during term time can only be approved by a Head Teacher/School Governing Body when a written request is made in advance of the leave being taken and the circumstances of the requested leave are ‘exceptional’.

There is no longer any provision for ‘holidays’ in the regulations. Generally, a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation would not constitute an exceptional circumstance.

How to request time off for your child

If you need to take your child out of school during term time, you'll need to submit a written request to the Head Teacher and the School's Governing Body in advance of the leave being taken. They will consider if your circumstances are 'exceptional' and let you know if your request has been approved. Please note that holidays are not normally considered exceptional.

If you take your child out of school without approval, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. The National Framework for penalty notices introduces a single consistent national threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered.

The National threshold is met when a pupil is recorded as absent for 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period.

If the unauthorised absence is for ten school sessions (i.e. five school days) or more, the local authority may issue an Education Penalty Notice (FPN) to each of the child's parents or carers at the request of the Head Teacher or School Governing Body.

Notice to improve for irregular attendance

Parents and pupils are expected to work with school staff to improve and maintain regular school attendance, the school will offer advice and support around issues such as bullying. The school will do their best to help you and your child to improve their attendance prior to taking any formal action. If there is continued unauthorised absence, the school may issue a Notice to Improve, failure to improve school attendance following this may lead to an Education Penalty Notice (EPN) being issued or further legal action.

Ultimately parents should work with schools to address the barriers to attendance as soon as they realise there is a developing problem. Enforcement action for irregular attendance is always a last resort and can be avoided by a positive relationship with school where parents support school attendance.

Please note: There is no limit to the number of times a Notice to Improve may be issued in any particular case.

What if I don’t pay the fine?

If payment is not received within 28 days, we will consider prosecution for the unauthorised absence and may take legal action where there is no significant improvement in school attendance.

Legal action

Where irregular attendance persists the Attendance Service will work with families and schools to improve school attendance.

They will work within the legal framework to ensure that parents are held to account if improvements are not seen in a timely manner.

If you are prosecuted and found guilty of not securing your child's attendance at school, the court can impose penalties, including a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or a jail sentence of up to 3 months.

We expect all children to attend every day, when the school is in session, as long as they are fit and healthy enough to do so. Regular school attendance is essential if a child is to make the most of the educational opportunity available to them.

St Stephen’s Primary School takes seriously its responsibility to monitor and promote the regular attendance and punctuality of all its pupils. We acknowledge that irregular attendance and punctuality: -

• seriously disrupts continuity of learning

• undermines educational progress

• can lead to underachievement and low attainment

• impedes the child’s ability to develop friendship groups within the school.

What does my child’s school attendance mean?

100% – Excellent

96 to 99.9% – Good
93 to 95.99% – Room for improvement

90.01% to 92.99% – Danger Zone
90% and below – Persistent absence/Potential legal action