All children are expected to attend school for the full 190 days of the academic year and parents have a statutory responsibility to ensure this.

 

Taking your chlld out of school for two weeks (ten school days) for an unauthorised holiday during term time will reduce their attendance to 94% before any account is taken of days off for illness.

Schools are required to inform the Local Authority if a child has unauthorised absences of ten or more sessions. As there are two sessions in a day, this equates to five full days or ten half days.

 

Unauthorised absences are not approved by the school and typically include holidays and outings, or absences with no explanations. Dorset Council are now issuing penalty notices for unauthorised absences which have arisen since the Supreme Court ruling on the 6^th of April. Please be aware Penalty notices are £60 per parent per child.