Attendance Policy & Procedure 2025
Leave of Absence Form 2025-2026
All schools within Redcar and Cleveland are encouraged to adopt a common leave of absence policy to ensure legal compliance
Our local authority and schools can use various legal powers if your child is missing school without a good reason. These are:
- a Parenting Order;
- an Education Supervision Order;
- a School Attendance Order;
- a fine (sometimes known as a ‘penalty notice’).
You can be given one or more of these but our local authority does not have to do this before prosecuting you.
Parenting Order
This means you have to go to parenting classes. You’ll also have to do what the court says to improve your child’s school attendance.
Education Supervision Order
If the local authority thinks you need support getting your child to go to school but you’re not co-operating, they can apply to a court for an Education Supervision Order.
An officer will be appointed to help you get your child into education. Our local authority can do this instead of prosecuting you, or as well.
School Attendance Order
You’ll get a School Attendance Order if our local authority thinks your child is not getting an education.
You have 15 days to provide evidence that you’ve registered your child with the school listed in the order or that you’re giving them home education. If you do not, you could be prosecuted or given a fine.
Fine
The government made changes to the legislation in August 2024.
These changes mean that there is now a single consistent national threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered of 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period.
The amount payable under the first Penalty Notice is £160 if paid within 28 days beginning on the date which the notice is received.
This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days ,beginning on the date which the notice is received.
Any second penalty notice issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period will be charged at a higher rate of £160 with no option for this second offence to be discharged at the lower rate of £80.
