Attendance
We are extremely proud of the high attendance that we achieve, and we work hard to support every child to come to school regularly.
In September 2013 the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 came into force. These regulations make it clear that Headteachers should not grant approval for any leave of absence during term-time, including holidays, unless there are exceptional circumstances. These regulations also state that holidays cannot be authorised retrospectively.
Time out of school will only ever be granted for exceptional circumstances. Applications for time off school must be completed on an official form (link below) and should be submitted one whole half term before the requested dates and at the very latest, 6 weeks before. This ensures that the request can be heard by either a full Governors meeting or a Governor’s Committee Meeting. Dates of all Governor meetings are also on the website.
After this meeting you will receive notification in writing to your home address with the decision made. Decisions are taken on the majority and contacting individual governors or members of staff may be seen to be pressurising the situation. If a child has time off from school in term time which is not authorised, then this will be raised to Derbyshire County Council who will impose a Penalty Notice. If this is unpaid, it could lead to prosecution under section 444(1) of The Education Act 1996.
We want to ensure everyone is treated fairly and can assure you that each case will be looked at on its own merit, but ultimately, we have to abide by the law.
At the FitzHerbert School, the children are dropped off at 8.45 am and the register is taken at 9.00 am. Pupils arriving after 9.10 am are marked late. Lateness is considered to be an unauthorised absence. The school day ends at 3.25pm.