LEAVE OF ABSENCE DURING TERM TIME
UPDATED INFORMATION FOR PARENTS
The Supreme Court has clarified the law on unauthorised leave, including holidays, during term time (Platt v Isle of Wright 2017). The Supreme Court has made clear that attending school ‘regularly’ means that the children must attend school on every day that they are required to do so. As such, the parents of any child who is absent from school without authorisation for any length of time are likely to be considered as committing an offence under s444 of the Education Act 1996.
The law states a leave of absence may only be granted by a school if an application is made in advance and if it considers there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application.
Schools must judge each application individually considering the specific facts and circumstances and relevant background context behind each request.
A leave of absence is granted entirely at the school’s discretion. Generally, a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation would not constitute an exceptional circumstance.
Where a leave of absence is granted, the school will determine the number of days a pupil can be absent from school.
When making an application for Leave of Absence parents are advised to give sufficient information and time to allow the Head teacher the opportunity to consider all the exceptional circumstances and to notify parents of their decision. The school may also request further information on the application and supporting documentation where appropriate.
It is advised that if the resident parent has not received notification or a response regarding the leave of absence application, it is the parents’ responsibility to ascertain if the leave is authorised prior to the start of the leave.
The school can only consider Leave of Absence requests which are made by the ‘resident’ parent ie the parent with whom the child normally resides.
Where applications for leave of absence are made in advance and refused, the child is expected to be in school on the dates set out in the application. If the child is absent during that period, it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. Where a leave of absence is requested, but additional days taken either prior to or after the request may be considered as part of the leave of absence.
Leave of Absences which are not made in advance cannot be authorised in line with legislation. This will result in the absence being recorded as ‘unauthorised’.
Your child’s progress academically as well as socially is our shared priority
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Holiday/Days off within Term Time
There are 190 days of school, leaving 175 days of holiday.
Whilst we appreciate rising costs of holidays during peak times, as a school we are unable to authorise holidays within term time, unless these are under exceptional circumstances. The DfE take this topic so seriously, that they have removed the holiday code from the registration system. This means that any time from school, must be for an exceptional circumstance. Each request will be made on a case-by-case basis, so we are unable to provide a list of these exceptional circumstances.
Please note that from September 2025 we will be referring all unauthorised holidays to the Local Authority, which could result in a fixed penalty notice.
Applying for term time holiday/days off:
- Request a Leave of Absence (LoA) form from the school office or download the form below.
- Complete and return to school with supporting evidence for the time out of school.
- Each request will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and will be at the discretion of the Head Teacher.
- If a request for LoA is not submitted, or it is done so after the holiday/day off this will result in an unauthorised absence.
- Best practice is to talk to a member of the Attendance Support Team prior to requesting the time out of school by emailing attendance@hillmortonprimaryschool.com or phoning 01788 544309.
- Please note that any unauthorised absence from school may be referred to the Local Authority and result in a fine/prosecution.
Do note that each request for absence will be followed by a decision letter. These are standard, generic, letters that outline the reason for the decision. Whilst we would like to personalise these to suit our families, we must follow strict guidelines for leave of absence requests. If you have any concerns about the letter received please do ensure to contact a member of the Attendance Support Team.
