If your child is aged between 5 and 16, you must make sure they attend school regularly and stay in school. This is law. You can be taken to court for breaking this law (Section 444 of the Education Act 1996).

Parents should ensure their children arrive at school on time, properly dressed and ready to learn.

This means pupils should wear school uniform. They must have the books, pens, pencils, PE kit etc. required for the day with them. Parents must also make sure that pupils complete homework on time and keep to school rules about behaviour and standard of uniform.

From August 19th 2024, the Government introduced a new ‘national framework for Penalty Notices’. There are significant changes that parents need to be aware of.

• All biological parents, whether they are married or not, and have parental responsibility.
• Any person who has parental responsibility for a child or young person.
• Any person who has care of a child or young person (i.e. lives with and looks after the child).

• All pupils are expected to arrive at school on time, and be in their designated area, ready for the start of the day
• All pupils are expected to arrive on time for each lesson of the day
• Pupils arriving late will be marked as late in the register
• Any secondary pupils who arrives late to school on two or more occasions in a week will receive a academy sanction
• Any secondary pupils who arrives to lesson more than 5 minutes after the scheduled start time will be classed as truancy and will receive a academy sanction

• To avoid gaps in learning
• To help achieve good exam results
• To help with applications to sixth form, college or an apprenticeship
• To prevent further action from the academy and/or the local authority

• Have a regular bedtime
• Limit digital technology use – e.g. gaming, social media etc and finish at least one hour before bed
• Ensure your child has their own alarm clock
• Get their bag and their equipment and kit ready the night before
• Establish routes to school in advance

• To look after the house or other members of the family
• To go shopping or visit relatives
• Because they are menstruating
• Because of waking up late
• For family birthdays or outings

A pupil is defined as ‘persistently absent’ when their attendance falls below 90%.

Regular attendance and punctuality assemblies take place throughout the year with pupils rewarded for their excellent attendance and punctuality to school.

As you will all be aware, current attendance regulations stipulate a principal/headteacher may not grant a leave of absence during term-time unless there are exceptional circumstances. As per the Learning Community Trust academies’ attendance policies, we are unable to grant any requests for leave of absence due to holiday. Each application for a leave of absence will be considered on a case – by – case basis and on its own merits. It is for the academy principal/headteacher to decide what they view as ‘exceptional’, and it is at their discretion if the circumstances warrant the leave to be granted. The Department for Education guidance Working Together to Improve School Attendance (Feb 2024) states that: ‘generally, the Department for Education does not consider the need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance.’ (Paragraph 38.)

If the leave is granted, the principal/headteacher can determine the number of school days a child can be absent for.

The academy can only consider leave of absence requests which are made by the ‘resident’ parent. Where applications for leave of absence are made in advance and refused, the child will be required to be in school on the dates set out in the application.

If the child is absent during that period, it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence, which may result in legal action being taken against the parent(s), by way of a fixed penalty notice. Failure to make an application for leave in advance can also result in a fixed penalty notice being issued to the parent(s). Parents will be notified of any decision in writing. This notification may be hand delivered directly to the parent or posted to the parents’ home address.

As the Learning Community Trust, we are asked to inform you that in line with Telford and Wrekin Council policy, if your child is absent for 10 school sessions within a 10-week rolling period and that absence is unauthorised, you may be subject to a penalty notice fine, criteria is as detailed above.

Parents are asked to respect the new regulations under which academies must work and if there is a need to take a child out of school during term – time, an application or request must be made in advance and make clear how the circumstances are exceptional.

If you child is unwell and you are uncertain as to whether they are able to attend school or not, please find the following guidance on illness from the NHS – click here

If your child is unable to attend school, the parent/carer must inform the academy before 8:30am that day. Full details can be found on each academy website.

If you are leaving a message to report a pupil absence, please include their name, year or form group, reason for absence and expected length of absence. 

If you are unsure of the length of absence, please inform the academy office/attendance officer before 8:30am on each day of absence. 

Parents and carers can explain absences, but they cannot authorise them. Only the academy can decide whether explanations about absences are acceptable and can be authorised.

For all pupils whose absence is below 93%, the academy may request a doctor’s note, or some form of medical evidence is provided. All other absences will be coded as ‘O’ and will not be authorised.

A pupil may have to be absent from school for medical or dental treatment. The academy must be informed if this is during school time. However, where possible appointments should be arranged after school or during the school holidays.

Please ensure that evidence is provided for appointments within school hours, the academy will check this before allowing pupils to leave lessons. Alternatively, please inform the academy and they will mark this accordingly on the register.

If pupils are leaving the academy site for any reason they must sign out at reception. Reception team will ensure that pupils have permission to be leaving the academy site before allowing them to sign out.

If a pupil feels unwell during the school day they should inform their class teacher. The class teacher will then request for a member of staff to assess the child’s ability to stay in school. If there is a medical emergency a member of staff who is first aid trained will be called for immediately. If a child is deemed too ill to stay in school, a decision will be made by school and the attendance officer, and parents will be informed.