July 16th 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am writing to you ahead of the summer holidays and new academic year with an update on the working together to improve school attendance guidance which becomes statutory for all schools from 19 August 2024.

Here is a brief summary of the legislation and changes which may affect you. Please note that schools are now required to use all legislative powers to support attendance, including fines. This will be a change for Stoughton and Northmead which you should be aware of.

A national framework will be introduced for parent fines due to unauthorised absences.

A national threshold of 10 sessions of unauthorised absences in a rolling period of 10 school weeks will be established. A session counts as 0.5 days, so 5 school days in total. This can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence, e.g. five sessions of holiday taken in term time plus five sessions of arriving late after the register closes, and the rolling period can span different terms and school years.

Where a pupil reaches the threshold, the school will consider whether a penalty notice is appropriate in the individual circumstances, or if support would be more appropriate. The school will also be able to issue a ‘Notice to Improve’ before a penalty notice which gives parents a final opportunity to engage in support and improve attendance.

Penalty Notice Charges

Should parents take their children out of school without authority for 5 or more days (which do not have to be consecutive), then the following will apply:

1. If you have not incurred a penalty notice relating to this child/children in a rolling 3 year period since 19 August 2024, then the penalty notice will be charged at the rate of £160.00, per parent/carer per child, if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80.00 if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings against you in the Magistrates Court.

2. If you have incurred a penalty notice relating to this child/children since 19 August 2024, the rolling 3 year period will be activated from the date of the first penalty notice and the second penalty notice will be charged at the flat rate of £160.00, per parent/carer per child, if paid within 28 days. There will be no reduction for payment within 21 days. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings against you in the Magistrates Court.

3. If you have incurred 2 penalty notices relating to this child/children in the rolling 3 year period since the first penalty notice was issued, then you will NOT receive a third penalty notice – Surrey County Council will have no option but to consider a prosecution, per parent/carer per child, in the Magistrates Court under s 444 Education Act 1996.

There is greater emphasis on supporting pupils with health needs

In the new guidance, the DfE has set out as an additional expectation that schools should be particularly mindful of pupils absent from school due to mental or physical ill health, or their SEND needs. Stoughton and Northmead Inclusion teams will continue to engage with families and partner agencies for children falling into this category.

In addition to unauthorised absences, schools must notify the LA of pupils who may miss 15 days because of sickness.

All schools are now legally required to share information from their registers with the LA. The guidance adds a new minimum expectation, which is that LAs must be provided with the name and address of all pupils who have been recorded with code I (illness) and who the school reasonably believes will miss 15 days consecutively or cumulatively because of sickness. We will be issuing a new attendance policy which will be shared with you and available on the website as soon as possible. I would like to thank you for your continued support with your child’s attendance at Northmead.

Kind regards,

Sarah Carrington

Headteacher of Stoughton Infant School & Northmead Junior School