School attendance: your responsibilities
If you are a parent of, or are responsible for, a child who is registered at school (between ages 5 to 15) you will need to ensure they attend school regularly.
The law and attendance
- parents are committing an offence if they fail to ensure their child's regular attendance at school
- prosecution could result in a fine of up to £2,500, a jail sentence of up to three months or a community sentence
- alternatively, Education Welfare Officers, Police Officers and head teachers have the authority to issue penalty notices to parents of between £50 and £100. Failure to pay a properly issued penalty notice will result in prosecution as set out above
- parenting contract - where parents need support to prevent their child from truanting, schools and local authorities (LAs) may offer to enter into a parenting contract. This is a voluntary two sided agreement between the parent and school or LA under which the parent agrees to comply with certain requirements and the school or LA agrees to provide them with the support that they need
The role of the LA in attendance
Local authorities (LAs) are responsible, by law, for making sure parents fulfil their responsibility of ensuring that their child receives an education either by regular attendance at school, or otherwise. Most LAs employ education welfare officers, (also called education social workers) to monitor school attendance and to help parents meet their responsibilities.
Education welfare officers work closely with schools and some are actually based in schools. If your child is not attending school regularly, an education welfare officer may visit you. For your child's sake you should co-operate with the education welfare officer to make sure your child overcomes his or her attendance problems and gets a proper education.
If you do not do everything you can to cooperate with the education welfare officer and school, the LA may consider imposing an education supervision order through the court. This means that the court appoints a supervisor to help and give advice to you and your child.
The LA can also prosecute you in a magistrates court. This could result in you and your partner being fined up to a maximum fine of £2,500 and/or a term of imprisonment of up to three months for each child who is not going to school.
Why must my child go to school regularly?
Having a good education will help to give your child the best possible start in life. Here are a few reasons why it is important to attend school regularly:
- They will not be able to keep up with school work.
- Employers will want to be sure that the people they are hiring are reliable. So children who have not attended their school regularly have less chance of getting a job.
- Young people who are off school are at risk of becoming victims of crime or abuse.
- Children may also be drawn into antisocial or criminal behaviour.
What can I do to help?
The most important thing you can do is to make sure your child goes to school regularly, arrives on time and keeps to the school's rules of attending all lessons. Start these good habits at an early age while your child is in primary school and you will make things easier for yourself in the long run. Here are a few more tips:
- If your child starts missing school, help the school to put things right. Make sure your child understands that you do not approve of them missing school.
- If your child is ill, contact the school on the first day of your child's illness. Staff will be concerned if they do not hear anything.
- If your child is ever off school, you must tell the school why. Do this by following the arrangements made by the school.
- If you want permission for your child to miss school for a special occasion such as a wedding, you should ask for permission well in advance and give full details.
- Do not expect the school to agree to shopping trips during school hours.
- Take an interest in your child's schoolwork.
- Support the school in its efforts to control bad behaviour.
Family holidays during term
Wherever possible, you should take your holidays during school holidays. Avoid taking your child on holiday at critical times during their education, e.g. at the beginning of the academic year - especially if they change schools, or when your child should be taking exams or tests.
You should not expect your child's school to agree to a family holiday during term time. The school will carefully consider your request and they may take your child's attendance record into account. Schools will not agree to your child missing more than a total of 10 school days for family holidays in any one school year, unless there is a very good reason.
If your child is off school for more than 10 days, the school may set work for them to do while you are away.
Next Steps
 | Sometimes speaking to parents and carers who have experienced the same
issues and problems as you can be a great way to get valuable advice and
information. Read, respond or ask a question in the |
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'Behaviour and discipline'
 | Benefit from the advice and tips given by our experts by reading or asking a
question in the |
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 | More information on attendance If you need more information or help, please contact your local school or your local authority. You can get further copies of this information in leaflet form from: DfES Publications
Centre Telephone : 0845 60 222
60 Copies of this leaflet are also available in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Somali, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese. |
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