We remind parents that any holidays should be arranged and taken outside of school time. There are 13 weeks of holiday a year where parents can travel abroad. We must put our children’s education first!
Any absence during term time is highly likely to receive a fixed penalty notice. The penalty notice will be issued at the cost of £120 per parent per child, and if this is not paid within the allocated time frame your case will be referred by the Local Authority directly to the Magistrates’ court.
Following a number of families across the city taking extended leave during term time, there has been a change to the ruling.
The changes in ruling, now states:
If your child has an absence of more than 20 days , the Local Authority has advised that a Penalty Notice is unlikely to be issued and the matter is likely to proceed to the Magistrates’ Court for prosecution action instead. The Local Authority has advised that where a parent is found guilty, or where the case is proven against the parent, that this is likely to result in a fine (up to £2500) and the parent receiving a criminal record. This is because parents have a legal duty to ensure their child attends school where they are on roll regularly.
Whilst we do not wish for any parent to be taken to court, we must ensure that our pupils attend school regularly so to gain the best quality education possible.
