Holidays/Lates and Fines
All holidays are unauthorised. Families will receive a fine issued from the LA for taking their child out of school for 5 days recorded as unauthorised. If your child receives an unauthorised late mark (after 9am arrival) on 10 occasions, they will also be subject to a fine along with 10 marks (5 days) due to an unauthorised mark. Please do try to make any essential appointments after school or as late/early as possible in the day to minimise how much learning time is lost.
Holidays or any requests for leave of absence still need to be processed, and a form should be completed 4 weeks in advance. Please ask at the office for an Application For Leave of Absence Form. You will then have the form returned to indicate if authorised and if there will be a fine. The school does NOT receive any of the money from the fines, it is processed by the Local Authority after the school has shared the information. If you feel you have an exceptional circumstance and can provide documentation to support this, please indicate this on the form so it can be reviewed. However, the reason does need to be very exceptional. Please feel free to make an appointment to discuss before asking for any leave.
Once processed by the Local Authority, which will be once you have returned from your holiday, both parents/carers for a 1st offence Penalty Notice Fine is £80 per pupil per parent, rising to £160 if not paid within the stated time or a 2nd offence (within 3 years) a fine of £160 per parent per child or 3 or more offences (within 3 years) the case will go to Magistrates court and can be fined up to £2,500 per parent per child and can appear on parents DBS certificates. These fines also apply when a child has 10 unauthorised marks/ 5 days.
We would always prefer a child to arrive late than not attend school at all, so please always try to ensure your child has good attendance. Our Education Welfare Officer regularly reviews our attendance per pupil and the reasons for absence.
