Holidays in Term Time and Unauthorised Absence

Dear Parents,

Some parents arrange family holidays during term time, which can lead to problems for all concerned:

• Your child's education suffers;

• Lessons and extra curricula activities are missed;

• Continuity of project work is lost;

• There is often no opportunity for teachers to set additional work or to assist a child in catching up on their return from holiday;

• The class is generally disrupted; other pupils suffer as a result;

• You may be in breach of your legal obligation to send your child to school.

There is a common misconception that any pupil is allowed to take 10 days holiday per academic year in term time. This is not strictly true. Parents are entitled to ask for leave of absence of up to 10 school days for an annual family holiday, and this may be authorised by the school. Only in exceptional circumstances can any more than 10 days be granted. The Department for Education and Skills expects us to actively discourage all holidays in term time. There is now a resource online for parents seeking discounted holidays in school holiday periods,

http://www.parentscentre.gov.uk/news/?asset=News&id=27517

School governors wish to stress that any request for holiday absence will be considered very carefully. The following factors will be taken into account:

• The child's general attendance/punctuality record;

• The number of previous similar requests;

• The time of year that the child will be absent. (For example, requests for leave of absence at the start of a school year, or when examinations are taking place, are very unlikely to be met with consent).

• The clear educational nature of the proposed holiday;

• Any second request in the same academic year may be automatically refused, save in exceptional circumstances (see above).

If you are unable to avoid requesting absence during school term, an application must be made to the Head Teacher on an application form (available from the School Office). This should be not less than six weeks before the absence is due to start.

A response will be sent to you within 14 days of receipt of your request. If your request is refused, but the child will still be absent from school, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and may be reported to the L.A. for legal action.

Any unauthorised absence is damaging to your child's education as well as reflecting badly on the school. Please consider this matter very carefully before making a request for absence during term time.

The following form is available for download. To read the form you might need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you dont have it you can download it here.

Download Holiday Form