The government now classes a pupil as a persistent absentee if their attendance at school drops below 90%.
For those children whose attendance drops below this level, parents/carers will be informed and discussions will take place in order to consider what steps are required in order to improve their child’s attendance. Support will be offered in whatever way works best for the family.
The Education Regulations state that applications for leave must be made in advance by a parent with whom the child lives and can only be authorised by the school in exceptional circumstances. Each application is considered individually by the school. Please contact the school directly if you need to discuss this.
Attendance at school is crucial to the academic performance of a child.
The difference in attainment between children who have 95-100% attendance and those whose attendance is between 85% and 90% is stark.
Only 44% of children with attendance falls between 85% and 90% go on to achieve the Expected Standard for their age in reading, writing and maths, whilst only 3% with this attendance reach a higher standard than is expected for their age.
This is compared to 72% (Expected Standard) and 13% (Higher Standard) of children whose attendance is between 95% and 100%.
DfE guidance states that term time holidays should only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.