School Absence and Legal Intervention

Natasha Taylor, Solicitor Advocate (Criminal and Civil)Advocacy Team Leader

Julie Weddell, County Manager, Education Welfare, School Attendance and Child Employment

Statistics – penalty notices issued in Essex Year Unauthorised leave of

absence Irregular school attendance

2012/13 410 282

2013/14 769 731

2

Application for leave

• Headteachers must decide what is exceptional leave of absence according to each case – there are exceptional circumstances

• Code of conduct and guidance issued by EWS can be found on https://schools-secure.essex.gov.uk/pupils/sen/Education%20Welfare%20Service/Pages/PenaltyNoticesForParentsOfTruants.aspx

Criteria within Code of Conduct – 10 sessions (5 consecutive days) or more of unauthorised

absence due to leave taken during an academic year; and – Attendance is below 90% during the preceding 12 weeks

before the leave was taken; OR– Any day of the leave falls within the month of September OR– The leave was taken during tests or examinations; OR– It is the second leave taken in any one academic year; OR– The pupil is in Year 6 or Year 11

•  •  

4

NAHT Guidance October 2014

• The decision to authorise absence is at the head teacher’s discretion based on their assessment of the situation. Circumstances vary from school to school and so there can be no absolute rules on this subject.

• The fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional’ are rare, significant, unavoidable and short. And by 'unavoidable' we mean an event that could not reasonably be scheduled at another time.

• It is important to note that head teachers can determine the length of the authorised absence as well as whether absence is authorised at all.

5

Authorised examples, not exhaustive:

• Visit seriously ill relatives. • Absence for a bereavement of a close family member but for the

funeral service only, not extended leave. • important religious observances but only for the ceremony and

travelling time, not extended leave. • families of service personnel if they are returning from long

operational tours that prevent contact during scheduled holiday time.

• Schools have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for students with special needs and disabiities

6

Examples:

• Families may need time together to recover from trauma or crisis.

• It is acceptable to take a student’s previous record of attendance into account when making decisions.

7

OFSTED/TERM TIMES

• Ofsted focus is on whether recurrent absence is being addressed; only if there is an issue with this will they look more deeply into why the school has authorised absence. Concern about inspection should not govern schools’ decisions in this area. Head teachers are under pressure to meet overall absence thresholds however.

• Where schools serve communities whose patterns of work create a regular barrier to attendance and family life schools could consider changes to term times. Where this involves changes to compulsory terms, we strongly recommend this is co-ordinated across schools and local authorities in an area.

8

Refusing request for leave

• Ensure you record why the decision was made and the reasons for it.

• Send this to the parents as soon as possible, within one week to enable parents to cancel holiday or make arrangements for child care

• Record how and when you serve the letter (personally, by first class post etc)

• Keep any further communication you receive from the parent

9

If holiday is taken

• Consider whether original decision stands• Request to EWS for the issue of a penalty notice must be made

as soon as the child returns to school from unauthorised leave, within 2 weeks latest

• Include record of attendance, which shows pupil has returned from holiday,application for leave, refusal letter, any other supporting documents/letters

• If parent moves home at any point, please inform EWS, including after PN issued so that any summons etc are sent to correct address

10

Penalty Notice issued and unpaid

 •EWS will consider prosecution•if circumstances change and you are going to authorise absence, please inform EWS•There is no offence of breaching a PN by failure to pay within the required time. The only way of dealing with non-payment is to rely upon s.444 Education Act (failure to ensure regular school attendance)

 

11

What the prosecution must prove

•Pupil (identity)•Registered at the school•In the care of X (may not be parent)•Irregular attendance•Without leave

12

Best Practice • Link with local schools to minimise different practices for siblings • If unauthorised, schools do not have to request that a penalty

notice is issued. • Instead of penalty notices schools may chose to warn parents

that a penalty notice may be issued if further unauthorised leave of absence is taken

• Inviting parent into school to explain what the pupil will miss out on has been very effective in schools

• Share information about what children will miss out on in just a week at parent presentations

13

New penalty notice process

359 referrals during Period of 02/06/14 - 25/07 /14:•153 School Attendance Meeting requests, 206 warning letter requests

(57% Warning Letter requests, 43% SAM requests)•Per quadrant:

14

  SAMs Warning Letters

Mid 58% 42%

NE 43% 57%

South 32% 68%

West 54% 46%