Holiday in Term Time
As parents/ carers you have a legal duty to ensure that your child/ children attend school daily. The Education Act 1996 makes it a criminal offence for a parent to “fail to secure their child’s regular attendance at the school”.
With the introduction of the new National Framework for Penalty Notices the following changes that came into force from 19th August 2024. Parents are unable to take their child out of school for a holiday, in term time, and any leave of absence should be sent, in writing, to myself (principal@thewilmslowacademy.co.uk). ‘Principals may not grant any leave of absence (holiday) during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.’ The outcome of any leave of absence requests, authorised or unauthorised, is at the discretion of myself, the Principal.
If you feel there are exceptional circumstances:
- You must clearly state in your correspondence to me what you feel the exceptional circumstance is that requires the leave of absence being taken in term time.
- On receipt of the request, you will be sent a response indicating whether the leave of absence is authorised or unauthorised.
If parents, contrary to the decision of the Principal, still decide to take their child out of school for a holiday then the absence will be coded as unauthorised. This will lead to the school referring the matter to the Local Authority requesting a Fixed Penalty Notice to be issued.
Penalties for Unauthorised Absence