Regular attendance at school

The Governing Body has reinforced our expectations, approach and importance of regular attendance at school in a revised policy document, published today. Our new policy clearly highlights the importance of regular attendance at school and is consistent with the Supreme Court’s recent decision about travel during term-time.

The Governing Body believes that regular attendance at school promotes pupils’ well-being, maximises progress in learning and helps pupils reach their potential. 100% attendance for all of our pupils is promoted with a minimum expectation of 95% attendance for all pupils.

The judgement by the Supreme Court clarified the meaning of ‘regular’ attendance at school following a period of unauthorised absence for a pupil to undertake a family holiday. Part of ruling, Lady Hale said, “It is not just that there is a clear statistical link between school attendance and educational achievement. It is more the disruptive effect of unauthorised absences. These disrupt the education of the individual child. Work missed has to be made up, requiring extra work by the teacher who has already covered and marked this subject matter with the other pupils. Having to make up for one pupil’s absence may also disrupt the work of other pupils. Group learning will be diminished by the absence of individual members of the group. Most of all, if one pupil can be taken out whenever it suits the parent, then so can others. Different pupils may be taken out at different times, thus increasing the disruptive effect exponentially.”

We recognise that the vast majority of our pupils have high attendance at school as a result of the value that Fielding’s parents place on education.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the law on attendance at school is unchanged. It is for the Head teacher of a school to authorise term-time travel for ‘exceptional’ circumstances only with permission being sought in advance. When deciding whether to allow term time leave, for any reason, the school will only consider:

• the reason for the leave, including
  • if the absence is unavoidable,
  • and, beyond the control and/or decision making of parents;
• the time and duration of the leave;
• whether or not the leave could have been taken during the statutory school holiday periods.

The main areas of our work on attendance will focus on:

• continuing to reduce persistent absence (where attendance falls below 90%) for our pupils, especially those who are disadvantaged and/or have special educational needs;
• issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for unauthorised travel during term-time.

Find out more, including application for leave during term-time:

• Our School, Policies, Attendance