Request for a holiday / Absence during term time
The Department for Education has amended the regulations and guidance in relation to absences in term-time. There is no automatic right to take your child out of school during term time.
The Department for Education will only allow a headteacher to grant a leave of absence if there are exceptional circumstances. In determining whether or not an absence in such circumstances can be authorised, it is for the headteacher to determine the number of days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted.
If you consider that your request falls into this category you will need to complete the form at the bottom of the page. A response will be sent to you as soon as possible. If the absence requested is not considered to be an exceptional circumstance, and you nevertheless take your child out of school, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised in line with County Council guidance.
Therefore, in the case of an unauthorised absence the Education Support, Behaviour & Attendance Service will be notified and a Penalty Notice will be issued. Please note that Penalty Notices are issued to each parent for each child taken out of school. A Penalty Notice is a fine of £60 which increases to £120 if not paid within the first 21 days. If the Penalty Notice remains unpaid this will result further legal intervention.
All absence requests must be completed on the form below, letters will not be accepted. This should be returned to the school a minimum of 14 days before the start of the absence.
Any absence from school will disrupt your child’s learning. You may consider some absences to be educational but your child will still miss out on the teaching that their classmates will receive. Children returning from an absence are unprepared for the lessons which build on the teaching they have missed. Teachers then have to give more time to help individual children catch up on missed work. This poses a potential risk of the under achievement of other pupils in the class. This is something we all have a responsibility to avoid.
I hope you will support our efforts to raise attendance and attainment at our school.
Click below to download the current Withdrawal from Learning Application.
Every pupil at St Richard’s has the Attendance Commitment Contract in their school journal. This needs to be signed by the parents/carers and shown to Form Tutors once done.
