Leave in Term Time
Leave in Term Time
The LA policy supports legislation which makes it clear that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.
There is no automatic right to any leave or holiday in term time.
Leave of absence must be requested from and agreed by the school in advance of any absence. If approved, the absence is registered as authorised and if not approved but still taken, as unauthorised. Schools should confirm in writing their decision whether to authorise any leave in term time or not following any requests for leave in term time. This provides parents/carers with written information about the possible consequences of taking leave that has not been authorised.
Permission is granted in accordance with arrangements made by the governing body of the school. Headteachers should determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted. Schools should remove all reference to 10 days leave.
When considering requests for leave in term time, Headteachers should take into account that absence shall not be granted unless;
- a request has been made in advance to the proprietor by a parent with whom the pupil normally resides, and
- the proprietor, or a person authorised by the proprietor, considers that leave of absence should be granted due to the exceptional circumstances relating to that request.
These regulations clearly make the point that the Headteacher has the final decision as to whether to authorise the leave or not. There should be no ‘blanket policy’ but schools should consider individual circumstances. In deciding whether or not to grant the request for leave of absence the following should be taken into account;
- overall pattern of attendance;
- can the leave requested be taken during the 13 weeks the school is closed?
- age of the child(ren)
- phase of education;
- time of the year and examinations;
- length, destination and purpose of the holiday and whether it is likely to be a rare event in the life of the child;
- family circumstances and the parents/carers reasons for wanting to take their annual holiday during term time.
A child’s name can be removed from the register if the pupil has been granted a leave of absence and after absence:
- s/he has not returned by the agreed date;
- and s/he has continued to be absent for a further twenty school days;
- and the Headteacher is not satisfied that this is because s/he is ill or the absence is unavoidable.
Any pupils to be removed from the school roll should first be referred to childrenmissingeducation@telford.gov.uk .
Procedures for authorising leave in term time can be summarised as:
- Holidays in term time are actively discouraged by the school and the LA;
- Holidays in term time are not a right and should not automatically be granted;
- Reference to 10 days is removed;
- Leave should only be granted where proper procedures have been followed;
- Leave of absence should not be granted retrospectively;
- It remains a discretionary power of the Headteacher to authorise leave of absence. Clear advice needs to be included within the school’s attendance policy and prospectus.
- Parents who continue to remove their child from school without authorisation may be issued with a Penalty Notice.