The Department for Education has issued some new guidelines for schools with regard to the management of attendance, holidays in terms and the issuing of fines. These changes took effect from 19th August 2024.

The full document can be found at:

Working together to improve school attendance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

At Dallimore we believe that children can only achieve their full potential if they have excellent punctuality and attendance. In order to support parents to achieve this we regularly monitor all children’s attendance.
If we are worried about your child’s attendance (if this falls below 93%) we will contact you to let you know that we are monitoring this and if this falls below 90% we may invite you into school for an attendance panel with the Headteacher and the Family Liaison Officer and/or School Business Manager. The purpose of the meeting is to find out if there are any issues that we are unaware of and to offer support and advice. If you need any support in getting your child to school (or on time) please do not hesitate to contact school and we will be happy to help.

If attendance does not improve then it is possible that legal proceedings will be requested.  We will do everything we can to avoid parents being issued with a fine, but please appreciate that it is parent’s responsibility to ensure good attendance.

If your child is absent for any reason, then it is important that you ring school asap to let us know the reason why. If your child needs to attend a medical appointment then please bring in their appointment card or letter so this can be authorised.

The Government states that:

• Pupils should not be taken out of school during term time unless it is unavoidable
• Schools are required to consider requests for leave of absence in term time and should only approve the leave if there are exceptional circumstances.
• If a request for leave is denied and the pupil is absent for 5 days or more then the school is expected to refer the case to the LA.
• The LA will issue a penalty notice with no requirement for a formal warning to be issued.
• Penalty notices can also be issued where a pupil is absent for repeated incidents of unauthorised leave in term time that fall below the 5-day threshold. In every case, the request for the Penalty Notice comes in from the school to the LA for the process to be completed.

We consider all requests for authorised absence on an individual basis but are required to use the guidelines to determine decisions and consider further action as necessary. 

As summary of the guidance is shown below.