New Attendance Rules Parents Need to Know for September 2024
At Crownfield Junior School we believe we offer a supportive approach to attendance and encourage our families to contact us should there be any barriers to your child arriving at school on time every day. In preparation for September 2024 and the new rules around attendance please ensure you read the following and review any holiday plans during term-time you may have as a family.
You will know that if a child misses just one day of school, that is one day’s worth of education lost. If it’s more than one day, those losses will be cumulative and the effect on long-term prospects could not be more damaging. Prior to Covid, absenteeism had been on the decline, but since the lockdowns, it appears attitudes towards attendance have changed and we are now seeing a steep increase in absenteeism once again - around 380,000 fewer pupils were persistently off school last year than the year before. This does not take into account the number of children not attending school due to SEND/SEMH.
Ministers have now published guidance on managing school attendance that will become mandatory from September 2024. Here's what you need to know.
£80 fines and Improvement Notices
Absence fines charged to parents will rise from £60 to £80, or £160 if not paid within 21 days. From Autumn term 2024, only two fines can be issued to the same parent for the same child within a three-year rolling period. Any notice thereafter will automatically be charged at £160. Parents will also receive "improvement notices", where they are are informed that this is their last opportunity to engage with education and improve their child's attendance before a fine is issued.
National fine thresholds
From September, schools will have to consider a fine if a pupil misses 10 sessions (half days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. They should “not have a blanket position of issuing or not issuing penalty notices”. The threshold can be met with “any combination of unauthorised absence”. For example, four sessions in term time plus six instances of arriving late.
Long-Term Sickness to be Flagged with Local Authorities
Schools will have to give councils the name and address of sick pupils who they believe will miss 15 consecutive or cumulative days. Schools will also be “expected to inform a pupil’s social worker and/or youth offending team worker if there are unexplained absences from school”.
Mental Health Awareness
All schools should now be particularly mindful of pupils absent from school due to mental or physical ill health or their special educational needs and/or disabilities and provide them with additional support.
The guidance acknowledges “many children will experience normal but difficult emotions that make them nervous about attending school, such as worries about friendships, schoolwork, examinations or variable moods”. But it is “important to note that these pupils are still expected to attend school regularly”.
Working together to improve school attendance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Absence from school really does affect your child’s progress, and usually, they will not be able to catch up on any lessons that they have missed.
Did you know…1 day a week away from school = 39 days a year or 7 weeks and 4 days of missed lessons, that’s ½ term of learning lost!
Did you know…15 minutes late every day = one whole literacy or numeracy lesson lost every week!
Illness
If your child is unwell please contact the school office before the start of the school day. If the illness continues you must contact the office again each day to update us.
If your child is absent and you have not informed the school, we will telephone you requesting an explanation for their absence.
When your child returns to school you should send in a letter explaining their absence.
Head lice can be a problem in school and we would ask that you treat your child’s hair before attending school as head lice is not an acceptable reason for absence.
Term time holidays/leave of absence
All requests for holidays/leave of absence will be considered on an individual basis. Family holiday requests will not be authorised unless for exceptional circumstances and will only be granted at the discretion of the Headteacher. A maximum of 5 days may be granted in exceptional circumstances.
Penalty notices will be issued by the local authority to parents/carers if their child(ren) have 5 or more consecutive days absent from school.
A penalty notice is an out of court settlement which is intended to change behaviour without the need for criminal prosecution. If repeated penalty notices are being issued and they are not working to change behaviour they are unlikely to be most appropriate tool.
Therefore, from autumn term 2024, 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 second notice within that period is charged at a higher rate:
- The first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
- A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.
- A third 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. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within those 3 years, 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.
This follows the advice of The Department of Education. They strongly discourage term-time holidays: “Schools must remember that they can only approve absence for family holidays if they consider that there are special reasons which warrant the holiday. Holiday prices and the fact that parents have booked a holiday before checking with the school are not special reasons. Absence for a family holiday can result in pupils with poor attendance becoming persistent absentees.”
(Further information on advice regarding attendance is available on the DfE website. A copy of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 is available on the UK Statute Law Database.)