At Pinvin C of E Academy we know that good attendance is the key to successful schooling and we believe our pupils can be amongst the best. Attending school every day will help give your child the best possible start in life. 

Going to school every day means: 

• Learning new skills 

• Making friends 

• Having lots of fun 

• Building lasting relationships 

• Taking part in exciting activities 

You can help us to help your child by encouraging regular school attendance.  We can offer support and guidance if you are finding it hard to get your child to school - please contact the school office. 

Attendance Penalty Notice Update from September 2024 

For the 2024/25 Academic Year, starting in September, the Department for Education (DfE) has made changes to the attendance codes and guidance. We would like to inform families of this before the academic year starts. 

Please note these are set by the Department for Education and are not Pinvin C of E Academy School policies. We are however asked to enforce these along with all other schools nationally.  

The changes to be aware of are: 

• The code for authorised holidays has been removed entirely and can no longer be used on registers. 

• Penalty notices issued for offences that take place after 19 August 2024 will be charged at  a new rate of £160 per parent per child. This can be paid at £80 if paid within 21 days. 

• Any second penalty notice issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period will be issued at the rate of £160 to be paid within 28 days with no option for a discounted rate. 

• The threshold at which a penalty notice  must  be considered is set at 10 sessions (equivalent to 5 days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10-school week period. This may include absences because of arriving late after the register closes. The 10 school weeks may span different terms or school years. 

• A maximum of 2 penalty notices may be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period, so at the 3rd offence another course of action will need to be considered (such as prosecution or one of the other attendance legal interventions). 

To put this into context, if a parent/carer takes a pupil out of school without authorised leave of absence in term time for 5 days or more from September 2024, then a family with two parents would receive a penalty of £320 per child. This is halved if paid within 21 days for the first instance. 

Regarding late marks, if a child arrives to school after the close of registers we are required by the Department for Education to give a U code (‘late after registers close’). If this were to be recorded 10 times within a 10-week period, the guidance would be a statutory fine of £160 per parent (halved if paid within 21 days for the first instance). 

We appreciate that these guidelines are significantly more severe than those in the past. As always, we will do everything reasonably possible to work with families to ensure strong attendance and give the children in our school community the best possible life chances. 

Leave of absence 

By law you must ask for permission for your children to miss school. Leave in term time will only be agreed where the Headteacher feels there are exceptional circumstances. You can request “leave in term time” for your child using a request form available at the School Office. Parents who take a child of compulsory school age on holiday without permission from the school may be issued with a penalty notice. 

To help your child do well in school, you should: 

• Arrange family holidays to coincide with school holidays. 

• Never take your child out of school when there are important tests. 

• Be aware of the potential impact on your child’s education 

• Avoid taking your child out of school when they are just starting. This is very important, as your child needs to settle into their new environment as quickly as possible. 

Medical Appointments 

If your child has to have a medical or dental appointment in school time please do your best to have it after 2pm and then your child can have their registration mark for the afternoon before you pick them up. If it needs to be a morning appointment, please try and bring them to school first to get their mark and then return then to school afterwards. Every half-day absence from school has to be classified by the school as either AUTHORISED or UNAUTHORISED. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required. Authorised absences are mornings or afternoons away from school for a good reason like illness (where a child is too ill to attend school) medical/dental appointments which unavoidably fall in school time, emergencies or other unavoidable cause. 

Please provide evidence of the medical appointment to the office.