Attendance

School attendance and absence

We place a high priority on good school attendance, and we are committed to ensuring that pupils in Darlington:

Attend regularly.
Feel valued and belong to their school community.
Can make the most of the educational opportunities available to them.

Research indicates that children who attend school regularly are much more likely to achieve positive outcomes both during their childhood and later in life. Being in school, around friends and teachers plays a big part in children's wellbeing and their wider development.

Top tips to support good attendance:

Talk to your child about school attendance being important.
Take an interest in their schoolwork by helping with homework and going to parent's meetings and other school events.
Talk about school at home - ask your child what they're learning, how their friends are and how they're getting on. Encourage them to tell you if they are doing well but also if they are struggling.
Get into good bedtime and morning routines ensuring that your child is getting plenty of sleep and is up on time for school every day.
Avoid use of electronic devices before bedtime.
Don't let your child take time off school for minor illnesses, particularly those that would not stop you from going to work.
Try to book dentist, doctor, and any other appointments outside of school hours.
Take family holidays during school holiday time only.
If you need help, ask for it.

This should be a consistent approach within your family home, not just for a few weeks.

What the law says

The Education Act makes it clear that parents must ensure that their child of school age receives regular, full-time education. For most parents this is in school. Children must attend the school they are registered in. Only the school can authorise a child’s absence.

What can support look like?

In Darlington we offer a ‘support first’ approach when it comes to school attendance. Many children go to school every day and enjoy it. Some may experience difficulties in attending for different reasons. Time missed from school can lead to gaps in knowledge and loss of socialisation opportunities with peers that can later become difficult to re-establish.

If you have concerns about your child’s attendance, please contact their school and ask to meet them. You can work together to overcome the difficulties you or your child are experiencing. It is important to be open an honest with school about what is happening, they can work with you and support you. The school should be able to discuss and offer some adjustments in the short term that will help your child attend regularly. This could be in the form of things such as;

changes within the school day
accessing external agencies and services
putting in place an early help assessment [pdf document]

It is important for you to honest so that you can be involved in what support should look like.

What happens if your school asks for attendance legal work from the Local Authority?

Penalty notices:

Head teachers are unable to grant leave of absences during the term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. A holiday or absence for leisure or recreation would not constitute an exceptional circumstance.

A fixed penalty notice may be issued if there are 10 sessions absence within a 10-week period which has not been authorised by the head teacher.

Within a 3-year period:

The first penalty notice is £160 per parent per child if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 per parent per child if paid within 21 days. If unpaid this will lead to prosecution in court.
A second penalty notice is £160 per parent per child to be paid within 28 days. If unpaid this will lead to prosecution in court.
A third penalty notice cannot be issued, and legal action may be taken e.g. Prosecution in court.

Our penalty code of conduct [pdf document] outlines the regulations and procedures for issuing penalty notices (fines) to each parent who fails to ensure their children’s regular attendance at school.

This code has been written as per the DfE’s ‘Working together to improve school Attendance.

Notice to improve:

School should be working with your family to support you to overcome the difficulties or barriers to school attendance. Where parents are not working with school and or services, to improve attendance or where there has been no improvement after a period of support, School may then request a notice to improve.

A notice to improve may be issued where there have been 10 sessions of unauthorised absence (not holiday related) or late attendances over the 10-week period. Attendance will then be monitored for a period of 15 school days:

If there is no further unauthorised absence during the 15-day warning period, no further action will be taken as attendance has improved however, if attendance is not sustained, a penalty notice may then be issued.
If there is a further unauthorised absence during the 15-day warning period, a fixed penalty notice will be issued.

Our school attendance officers will aim to support you through this process and again work with you to find long term solutions to the barriers so that good school attendance can be sustained.

Fast Track:

School should be working with your family to support you to overcome the difficulties or barriers to school attendance. Where parents are not working with school and or services to improve attendance, or where there has been no improvement after a period of support, school may then request a Fast Track.

A Fast track may be issued when attendance is below 80% with 10 or more unauthorised absences. Attendance will be monitored for a period of 12 weeks.

If attendance is acceptable (above 80%) during the 12-week monitoring period, no further action will be taken as attendance has improved. If attendance is not sustained after the 12-week monitoring period, further intervention may then be considered.
If attendance remains poor (less than 80%) during the 12-week monitoring period, then prosecution in court will be considered.

Our school attendance officers will aim to support you through this process and again work with you to find long term solutions to the barriers so that good school attendance can be sustained.

How to pay your fixed penalty notice

You should complete the notice slip and send it to the Local Authority at the address given. If paying by cheque, please make it payable to Darlington Borough Council.

Payment can also be taken over the telephone by contacting tel:0300 456 2671 or via our payments website [external link]

Local Authority checks

Other local authorities can contact us on [email protected] to check if a family who has previously lived in Darlington has been issued with a penalty notice in the 3 year period.