At Orchard Primary School, we seek to ensure that all our pupils receive a full-time education which enables and encourages them to reach out for excellence and gives the best possible opportunities for children to realise their true potential.

In order that our children gain the greatest benefit from their education, it is vital that pupils attend school regularly.

To view our 'Attendance Policy', please click the link below:

Orchard School Policies

Making a Request for Leave of Absence

As a Parent/Carer, you should fill in this form if you want to take your child out of school for any reason during term time.

Before completing the form please read the following notes carefully:

In line with Government Legislation, Headteachers' have the discretion to grant leave, but will only do so in exceptional circumstances. If the Headteacher grants a leave request it will be for them to determine the length of time that child can be away from school. This leave is unlikely, however, to be granted for the purpose of a family holiday.

Once your form has been filled in, this will be processed and you will hear back within a week.

You can fill out the form online using this link Leave of Absence Form, or request a paper copy from the School Office.

Once you have completed the form please email it to school@orchard.leics.sch.uk along with any supporting evidence to support your request.

For guidance on completing the form, please click here.

Every Day Counts!

The importance of regular attendance at school cannot be stressed enough. As such, excellent attendance at school is an expectation at Orchard to support pupils in accomplishing their best. We aim to achieve 96% average whole school attendance, or above.

Why is excellent attendance so important?

• Learning is a progressive activity; each day’s lessons build upon those of the previous day(s).
• Many classes use discussions, demonstrations, experiments and participation as part of the daily learning activities, and these cannot be made up by those who are absent.
• Pupils with good attendance records generally achieve higher grades and enjoy school more.
• Having a good education will help to give your child the best possible start in life.
• Regular school attendance patterns encourage the development of other responsible patterns of behaviour.

What are the Risks of Frequent Absences?
A child who does not attend school regularly will be unlikely to keep up with the work. The more pupils miss school, the lower their grades; the lower their grades, the less they want to stay in school.

What Guidance does the School Follow?
Our attendance strategy and policy meets the requirements of the Department for Education’s (DfE) Working Together to Improve School Attendance statutory guidance for schools, which applies from August 2024.

It also refers to the new National Framework for issuing penalty notices and reflects changes to the law introduced through the Education Penalty Notices England Amendment Regulations 2024, on school attendance parental responsibility measures. Orchard Primary also adheres to the Leicestershire County Council’s Local Code of Conduct for Issuing Penalty Notices 2024.) The detail of this information can be found in our Attendance Policy.

Support First

All Trusts, schools and LAs are expected to promote good levels of school attendance and provide support to remove barriers where a pupil’s absence may be causing concern.

By working with you, we can step in early to help to prevent patterns of absence developing. We may identify other underlying issues that are making your child unable, or reluctant to attend school and be able to help you and your child. For this to be successful, parents are asked to work with the school. We’re partners in your child’s schooling.

However, where it can be demonstrated that a parent/carer is not fulfilling their parental responsibility to ensure that their child receives a suitable full-time education, then the school will need to consider requesting that the LA take further action. This can be in the form of a penalty notice, prosecution, or the school may suggest other formal interventions e.g. Social Care Early Help.

National Framework for Pentaly Notices

To provide consistency, the Government has devised a national framework for when Trusts, schools and LAs believe that they have exhausted all offers of support, and the parent/carer is not engaging with the attempt to improve their child’s attendance at school.

The threshold for when a school should refer to the LA is 10 sessions (5 school days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks.

A school week means any week in which there is at least one school session. This can be made up of any form of unauthorised absence including late after close of register (attendance code U), and odd days of unauthorised absence (attendance code O), which add up to 5 days within a 10-week period.

At this point the school will consider if it is likely that the attendance will improve with further support. We may then decide to refer the case to the LA for formal monitoring. This may proceed to legal action if the attendance does not improve

Education Penalty Notices are issued to parents of statutory school age children. Please be aware that Penalty Notice Fines will be issued to each parent, for each child that was absent. For example: if 3 siblings are absent, it would result in each parent receiving 3 separate fines.

The costs and process is outlined below:

• First offence: The first time a Penalty Notice is issued it carries a fine of £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days, or £160 per parent, per child if paid within 28 days.
• Second offence: (within a 3 year period) The second time a Penalty Notice is issued it carries a fine of £160 per parent, per child if paid within 28 days.
• Third offence and any further offences (within 3 years): The third time an offence is committed, a Penalty Notice will not be issued. Instead, the case will be presented straight to Magistrates Court. Magistrates’ fines can be up to £2500 per parent, per child. Cases found guilty in Magistrates’ Court can show on the parent’s future DBS certificate, due to failure to safeguard a child’s education.

A Reminder about types of Absence as per School Policy

Authorised - Legally, every half-day absence from school has to be classified by the school as either authorised or unauthorised. Authorised absence is where the school has either given approval in advance for the child to be absent or where an explanation offered afterwards has been accepted as satisfactory justification for absence.

Absence may generally be authorised for the following reasons:

• Illness
• Medical or dental appointments, by necessity made in school time

• Accredited Exam – ballet/music (extra-curricular)
• Approved sporting event
• An exceptional ‘enrichment’ opportunity (e.g. involvement in a public performance)
• Family Bereavement
• Serious family crisis
• Suspension
• Wedding – close family relative
• Religious Observance
• Traveller child travelling for the purposes of parents employment
• Other unusual/rare 'exceptional' occasions (the nature of such occasions will be determined by school on an individual basis)

Unauthorised - Unauthorised absence is where no explanation has been given for the child’s absence or where the explanation offered is considered by the school to be unacceptable.

Absence will not be authorised in the following circumstances:

• If no explanation is offered by the parent/carer
• The explanation provided is unsatisfactory (e.g. shopping, day off to celebrate a birthday, child is feeling tired etc.)
• Family holidays in term time (unless granted under ‘exceptional’ circumstances)
• Where there are a sporadic absences and the attendance is declining.
• Where no medical evidence has been provided when requested.

A Reminder about Holidays during Term Time

Extract from Working together, page 18. 38. ‘Generally, the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance. Leave of absence should not be granted for a pupil to take part in protest activity during school hours.’

Schools are given strict guidelines from the Department of Education that there is no entitlement in law for any leave of absence for a holiday during term time and as a consequence, requests for leave of absence for reasons that are not considered to be special or exceptional cannot be approved.

Examples of circumstances that will not be authorised:

• Availability of cheap holidays or cheap travel arrangements in term time
• Days overlapping with the beginning or end of term.

• During the first term, when a pupil is just starting at school, as it is very important for the child to settle into their new class;
• During an assessment/test period – Key Stage 1 & 2 SATs
• When a pupil’s attendance record already includes any level of unauthorised absence

We will also take into account the current attendance for each child when making a decision.

‘Exceptional Circumstances’ Criteria

It is not possible to define all ‘exceptional circumstances’ therefore the circumstances of each leave of absence application will be taken into account on an individual basis. However, examples of what might be considered ‘exceptional circumstances’ for leave in term time, as agreed by Governors at Orchard Primary School are:

• Service personnel returning from or scheduled to embark upon a tour of duty abroad.
• Where it is company/organisational policy for an employee to take leave at a specified time in the year and there is no opportunity for a family holiday in school holidays i.e. in some cases a parent’s employer might restrict holidays to a certain time period. This must be supported by documentary evidence from the employer.
• Where a holiday is recommended as part of a parent or child’s rehabilitation from a medical or emotional issue.
• An emergency situation that requires the child to be away from school.

Procedure for Requesting a Leave of Absence in Term Time

Children should not be taken out of school during term time unless it is unavoidable.

Schools are required to consider requests for leave of absence in term time and should only approve the leave if there are exceptional circumstances. If a request for leave is denied and the pupil is absent for 5 days or more then the school is expected to refer the case to the LA. The LA will issue a penalty notice with no requirement for a formal warning to be issued. Penalty notices can also be issued where a pupil is absent for repeated incidents of unauthorised leave in term time that fall below the 5-day threshold. In every case, the request for the Penalty Notice comes from the school to the LA for the process to be completed.

Any applications for leave of absence must be made in advance in writing/email to the Headteacher and any request can only be authorised where school accepts that there are ‘exceptional circumstances’. The reason for the request should be given in detail. The school will email back to the parent/carer informing them of the decision that has been made by the Headteacher.

Illness

Extract from Working Together: Page 8. 11. ‘Where parents decide to have their child registered at school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure their child attends that school regularly. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.’

The following are the only reasons listed by the DFE where common childhood illness will be authorised.

Please note, sickness and diarrhoea: if it is due to food that has made them ill or your child has had little sleep, been over excited etc. which has made them sick then they do not need to have 48 hours off. It is where there is a potential ‘bug’ which could be caught by their peers and staff that they need to remain off school for this time.

Government Link: How Long Should I Keep My Child Off School

It is therefore important to notify school every day that your child is absent, providing a reason, and where appropriate evidence of medical appointments or prescribed medication.

Support for Parents - What can I do to encourange Punctunality and Good attendance

• Establishing a routine - Having a regular bedtime and morning routine can help children get ready for school.
• Preparing for the morning - Packing bags and setting out clothes the night before can help children get ready for school. Make sure your child gets enough sleep and gets up in plenty of time each morning.
• Show your child, by your interest and the way that you talk positively about school, that you value their education.

My child is reluctant to come to school. What should I do?
It’s normal for children and young people to feel worried about something that’s happening at school – when starting in a new class or if they are experiencing friendship issues, for example. Sometimes, however, school can become challenging, stressful or distressing over a much longer period of time.

If your child is feeling anxious about school, or does not feel able to attend regularly, please get in touch with us. The school has a pastoral team, which includes the Headteacher, SENDCO, and ELSA – who will be able to support pupils struggling with their wellbeing and feelings towards schools. The pastoral team are skilled in working with multi agencies and can also sign post families to the right service if families are open and honest about the worries and concerns they have. Parents/carers can also self-refer to the Family Help team at Leicestershire Local Authority or Family Lives, who offer free support and parent mentoring on any aspect of parenting for those living in Leicestershire.

Children Missing Education (CME)

Children missing education are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. Children missing education are at significant risk of underachieving, being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life.

A child going missing from school is also a potential indicator of abuse and neglect.

Staff will monitor children that go missing from school, particularly on repeat occasions, and report them to the designated safeguarding lead – following normal safeguarding procedures.

In order to ensure accurate data is collected to allow effective safeguarding, the school will inform the LA of any pupil who is going to be deleted from the admission register where they:

• Have been taken out of school by their parents and are being educated outside the school system, e.g. home education.
• Have ceased to attend school and no longer live within a reasonable distance of the school.
• Have been certified by the school medical officer as unlikely to be in a fit state of health to attend school before ceasing to be of compulsory school age, and neither he/she nor his/her parent has indicated the intention to continue to attend the school after ceasing to be of compulsory school age.
• Are in custody for a period of more than four months due to a final court order and we do not reasonably believe they will be returning to the school at the end of that period.
• Have been permanently excluded.

The local authority will be notified when a school is to delete a pupil from its register under the above circumstances. This should be done as soon as the grounds for deletion are met, but no later than deleting the pupil’s name from the register. Please check out the Orchard CME Policy by clicking on the link:

Orchard School Policies

What to do if you suspect a case of CME

If you suspect that a child is missing education, please contact the Leicestershire Children Missing Education (CME) Team: phone 0116 3052071 or email: cme@leics.gov.uk