Attendance
The school day begins at 8.45am for Year 1-Year 6 and ends at 3.15pm.
In EYFS, the school day begins at 8.40am and ends at 3.10pm.
The school week totals 32.5 hours.
Please read our Attendance Policy within the 'About us' tab before applying for Leave of Absence during term-time.
All requests for Leave of Absence must be submitted using this form.
New changes to the law regarding issuing penalty notices for unauthorised leave will come into place on 19th August 2024. The changes to this law are significant so we have summarised them here for you:
New - two penalty notice limit in a three-year period
The three-year rolling period starts for parents when the first penalty notice is issued to them after the 19th August 2024. The first Penalty Notices for leave in term time will increase to £160 per parent per child but can be reduced to £80 per parent per child if paid within 21 days.
If a second penalty notice is issued within three years of the first penalty notice, then this will be at a fixed rate of £160 per parent per child, with no reduction for early payment. A third penalty notice cannot be issued within the three-year period; therefore, the county council will deal with any further unauthorised leave through prosecution in the Magistrates Court. If the parent is found guilty, the potential fine is up to £1000.
National threshold for issuing penalty notices.
There will be new national threshold for issuing penalty notices which has been set at 10 sessions (5 school days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. However, if in an individual case the local authority believes a penalty notice would be appropriate, they retain the discretion to issue one, before the threshold is met.
With the new thresholds, there are now very few exceptional circumstances in which absences can be authorised. There are no longer any careers (NHS/Police/Prison service etc) that are exempt from any part of the term time leave penalty notice law. This will also impact parents who work in professions with designated holidays, such as Potters Holidays.
It is worth remembering that the vast majority of our children have an excellent record of school attendance, and we recognise the significant efforts so many of our families make to ensure their children attend school regularly.