Leave of Absence During Term Time

Our School's Leave of Absence during term time is in line with the guidance from the Department for Education (DfE). This guidance is statutory, and schools, trusts, governing bodies, and local authorities must have regard to it as part of their efforts to maintain high levels of school attendance. 

Working Together to Improve School Attendance DfE September 2024

Regular and punctual school attendance is important. Children need to attend school regularly if they are to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them by law. Bradleys Both fully recognises its responsibilities to ensure pupils are in school and on time, therefore having access to learning for the maximum number of days and hours

The law gives no entitlement to parents to take their child on holiday during term-time.

Headteachers would not be expected to class any term time holiday as exceptional. Therefore Headteachers will only be able to grant leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and this will be at the discretion of the Headteacher.

Requests for absence in term time must be made 6 weeks prior to the absence and made in writing using the relevant request form, which is available from our school office or on our school website (below)

No parent/carer can demand leave of absence as of right. The Education Regulations state that applications must be made in advance by a parent/carer with whom the child lives and can only be authorised by the school taking into account any factors presented by the family. Our Headteacher will also welcome early discussion with you around potential applications.

Parent/carers will be notified in writing of the decision for a leave of absence in term time within 10 school days of the date of the application.

The following are examples of the criteria for leave of absence, which may be considered as ‘exceptional’.

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• Service personnel returning from active deployment

• Where inflexibility of the parent’s leave or working arrangements is part of the organisational or company policy. This would need to be evidenced by the production or confirmation from the organisation/company.

• Where leave is recommended as part of a parent’s or child’s rehabilitation from medical or emotional problems. Evidence must be provided.

• When a family needs to spend time together to support each other during or after a crisis.

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This is not an exhaustive list and the Headteacher must consider the individual circumstances of each case when making a decision on this matter. Leave is only acceptable against exceptional circumstances and should not be granted on the basis of attendance record, academic performance or the ‘experience’ offered by being out of school. Where a Headteacher feels that there may be exceptional circumstances which do not fit the criteria, they may consult with YCAT Academy Trust and / or the Local Authority for advice. The decision of the Headteacher is, however, final.

Please note that the ability to access a reduced cost of a holiday does not constitute an exceptional circumstance.

If the leave of absence in term time is agreed it will be recorded as ‘H’ on the school attendance registers (authorised absence).

If the school does not agree to grant the leave of absence and the parents/carers take their child out of school then this will be recorded as unauthorised absence ‘G’ (family holiday not agreed).

Penalty Notices for unauthorised leave of absence taken in term time:

From the 19th of August 2024 the DfE state that only 2 Penalty Notices can be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within a 3 year rolling period and any 2nd Penalty Notice issued within that period is charged at a higher rate:

• The first Fixed Penalty Notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular child will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days, this will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.

• A second Fixed Penalty Notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same child will be charged a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.

• A third Fixed Penalty Notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first Penalty Notice.

• In a case where the national threshold is met for the third time (or subsequent times) alternative action should be taken instead. This will often include considering Prosecution but may include other tools such as one of the other Attendance Legal Interventions.

The school will contact the Local Authority to request the issue of a Penalty Notice, if there have been at least 10 sessions of unauthorised absence, in a block or accumulated, in the preceding 10 week period.

In cases where a pupil has moved school or Local Authority area in the previous 3 years, an additional check will be made by school to ascertain whether previous Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued to the parent in respect of the pupil.