Leave of Absence

If you require a form for your child to request time away from school, you can either obtain a copy from our school office or download a copy from the link below:

Leave of Absence Form

Please note the following guidance for absence requests in term time. These can also be found on the second page of the form:

  1. The decision to grant the request is for the school, not the Authority or the parent. Only schools can authorise absences.
  2. There is no requirement to authorise just because a request has been made.
  3. The Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003) gives the Local Authority the power to issue fixed penalty notices for unauthorised leave of absence during term time.
  4. No parent can demand leave of absence for the purposes of a holiday as a right.
  5. Any request for leave must be made in advance – minimum of two weeks notice.
  6. Holidays cannot be authorised retrospectively.
  7. If important work has been missed by the pupil due to the parents making a request for leave of absence for a holiday the parents should not expect special arrangements to be made by the school for that pupil to catch up that work.
  8. The circumstances of each individual request will be considered. The following factors may be relevant but this should not be regarded as a comprehensive list:

  • The overall attendance of the child for the previous academic year or 3 terms.
  • If taking leave of absence in the first half of the first term would have a negative impact on pupil progress.
  • If a previous holiday has been taken in the same academic year.
  • Timing of internal and/or external examinations/assessments.
  • The reason given by a parent for requesting leave of absence in term time.

The Local Authority Code of Conduct for the issue of Fixed Penalty Notices in respect of poor school attendance and unauthorised holidays/leave of absence taken during term-time, states that a parent will not be issued with more than 1 Fixed Penalty Notice in respect of an individual child in any 2 year period.

This means that if any parent/carer has already received a Fixed Penalty Notice and then takes their child out of school in term time for a holiday, and this falls within 2 years of the date of the last day of absence of the previous holiday, a request will be made to the Local Authority and the matter may be referred to the Magistrate’s Court.  This could result in a prosecution of up to £1,000.