Introduction

The Law

Why must my child go to school regularly?

• Having a good education will help to give your child the best possible start in life.
• If your child does not attend school regularly, he or she will not be able to keep up with the work.
• Employers will want to be sure that the people they are thinking of taking on are reliable. So children who have not attended their school regularly have less chance of getting a good job.
• Young people who are off school for no good reason are at risk of becoming victims of crime or abuse. They may also be drawn into anti-social or criminal behaviour.

What can I do to help?

• Make sure that your child goes to school regularly, arrives on time and keeps to the school's rules on going to all lessons. Start these good habits at an early age, while your child is in primary school.
• If your child starts missing school, help the school to put things right. Make sure your child understands that you do not approve of him or her 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 example because of 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 school work.
• Support the school in its efforts to control bad behaviour.

Family holidays during term time

• Wherever possible, you should take your holidays during school holidays.
• Avoid taking your child on holiday at times when he or she 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 ten 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 ten days, the school may set work for him or her to do while you are away.

The role of the Local Education Authority

• Local education authorities (LEAs) are responsible, by law, for making sure that registered pupils of compulsory school age attend their school regularly.
• Most LEAs 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. 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 co-operate with the education welfare officer and school, the LEA may have no choice but to get an education supervision order. This means that the court appoints a supervisor to help and give advice to you and your child.
• The LEA can also prosecute you in a magistrates court. This could result in you and your partner receiving a penalty of up to £2,500 and / or imprisonment for up to 3 months.

More Information

• If you need more information or help, please contact your local school or your Local Education Authority

DfEE Publications
PO Box 5050
Sudbury
CO10 6ZQ

Telephone: 0845 60 222 60
Fax: 0845 60 333 60
Email: dfee@prologcs.demon.co.uk

Copies of this leaflet are also available in Braille, on audio cassette, and in Gujerati, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Hindi, Chinese, Turkish, Greek and Vietnamese.