Authorised and Unauthorised
Attendance
(Including 'Holiday Forms')

For a comprehensive list of what constitutes Authorised and Unauthorised Absence
click here

You may have heard in the news that the Government is getting rather hot on truancy. It has even been suggested that parents who take their children on holiday during term time could, in future, be fined. Parents in both Thurrock and Southend have been in court recently, facing hefty fines or even custodial sentences, because of their children playing truant. All this has highlighted the fact that some parents don’t fully understand what the term truancy means. Once upon a time it was generally understood as children who set off for school in the morning but ended up ‘bobbing off’ and walking the streets. This is no longer the case. Truancy is any unauthorised absence. This includes; getting up late and not bothering to go to school that day, taking a day off to visit relatives, staying home to look after others who are unwell or birthday treat visits to Thorpe Park. ‘Jet lag’ following a late arrival home from holiday is not an illness – it’s truancy. These are actual excuses that we have been given by parents in the past and, under new guidance, they would now be classified as unauthorised absence. In other words, truancy, whether condoned by parents or not.

Only the Headteacher, on behalf of the Governors, can authorise an absence and the guidelines are very strict. There are only a few circumstances where authorisation is permitted. The obvious one (and most common) is illness of the child concerned. Others are not so common but include taking a recognised public exam, making a licensed appearance in a public performance (the Headteacher will ask for details of the license) or observing a recognised religious festival. There are one or two others on the list but they are very uncommon in our setting.

The Governors of Wyburns have agreed that the Headteacher may authorise up to 10 school days each academic year for family holiday, as long as a holiday form is completed in the normal way. New Government guidelines are being discussed at the moment which will make approval of holiday forms subject to 90% attendance by the child over the preceding 12 months. It should be noted that, because of SATs, the Headteacher will not authorise any holidays during the month of May (or until all SATs papers have been taken – whichever is the earlier).

All other absences should be reported to the school in the normal way, preferably before 10:15am on the first day of absence. The easiest way for parents and the office staff is if you continue using the Absence Line 01268 770347. Most parents recognise and understand the need for children to be in school every day, whenever possible. However, for the minority who use the type of excuse given above or don’t contact us with any excuse at all, we have to give a polite warning: The Education Welfare Officer will be making regular register checks and incidents of truancy may be referred to the Education Welfare service who may issue a Penalty Notice for £100 (or £50 if paid within 28 days) to each parent for each child taken out of school.

October 2004