Penalty Notices
1. Requested/Planned Absence (e.g. a holiday)
Taking a child out of school during term time disrupts both their education and the education of other pupils in their class.
Absences should not be authorised except in exceptional circumstances. The headteacher has the final decision on whether to authorise absence from school.
It is important that all schools are consistent in their message to parents. If there is no deterrent, there is likely to be at best a regular number of absentees taking term time absences and at worst an increasing number.
The ‘Withdrawal from Learning Application' constitutes the warning. It is therefore important that the form your school uses contains the appropriate warning information. You can download a template letter and form below. Or if you want to continue to use your own form you will need to include the warning information that appears in bold in this template form.
The procedure to follow:
- Parent completes and returns ‘Withdrawal from Learning Application'.
- Headteacher makes decision and school returns completed form to parent, keeping a full copy on file.
- If the absence is unauthorised and subsequently taken, the form should be forwarded to the Legal Interventions Team at legal.interventions@eastsussex.gov.uk confirming the date the request was received and unauthorised.
- Attach a copy of the registration certificate confirming the unauthorised absence was taken and also provide a copy of the registration certificate for the previous academic year.
- Attach details of any other contact/communication details in relation to the absence.
- Provided all the above information is in order ESBAS will investigate and take appropriate action.