Attendance
Email this pageThe Department of Education Working Together to Improve School Attendance August 2024 to schools around recording attendance says:
Code I: Illness (not medical or dental appointment)
365. Schools are not expected to routinely request that parents provide medical evidence to support illness absences. Schools should only request reasonable medical evidence in cases where they need clarification to accurately record absence in the attendance register – i.e. making a decision that code I is the absence code that accurately describes the reason the pupil is not in school for the session in question. In the majority of cases a parent’s notification that their child is too ill to attend school will be that evidence and can be accepted without question or concern. Only where the school has genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness should medical evidence be requested to support the absence.
366. Where medical evidence is deemed necessary, schools should not be rigid about the form of evidence requested and should speak to the family about what evidence is available. Schools should be mindful that requesting additional medical evidence unnecessarily places pressure on health professionals, their staff and their appointment system, particularly if the illness is one that does not require treatment by a health professional. Where a parent cannot provide evidence in the form requested but can provide other evidence, schools should take this into account. Where a parent cannot provide any written evidence the school should have a conversation with the parent and pupil, if appropriate, which may in itself serve as the necessary evidence to record the absence.
Some children may not be able to attend school for health reasons, for long term or intermittent periods.
For children with SEND, anxiety or sensory overload are common factors affecting attendance, which are sometimes not immediately identified. If you think there may be underlying needs affecting your child's attendance, discuss and explore with school how these might be supported.
Schools have a legal duty under the Children’s and Families Act 2014, to work with you to identify and support any special needs that your child may have.
What is the Fair Access Protocol?
The LA has a Fair Access Protocol to ensure that schools and the local authority work together to ensure that access to education is secured swiftly for children that have no school place.
The aim of the protocol is to encourage close co-operation between schools, when allocating places for pupils who are ‘hard to place’ (for example children with challenging behaviour) that balances the needs of parents, children and schools.
In addition, under the protocol the local authority can, in exceptional cases, approach schools and ask them to admit children over their admission number where, for example, a child has moved into an area and there are no schools within a reasonable distance of the child’s home with a place available.
Children considered for admission under the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over children on a waiting list who are attending another school. If, having applied for a place, your child is still left with no school place at all please contact Essex Admissions for more advice.
Useful links
Helping parents to understand the changes to fines for term time holidays
from Essex County Council
School Attendance Difficulties
from Essex County Council
Working Together to Improve School Attendance: DfE guidance overview for schools
This webinar covers the key principles behind the DfE's 'Working Together to improve school attendance' guidance. It highlights the main expectations for schools, and what has changed in the latest update for Autumn term 2024.
School Attendance
For parents and carers in Essex
Working together to improve school attendance guidance for parents - August 2024
from the Department of Education
Fair Access Protocol
Department for Education Guidance for school leaders, admission
authorities and local authorities
Also in this section:
Emotional Based School Avoidance
Guidance on the steps you can take if your child is experiencing anxiety around going to school.
Reduced Timetables Guidance
Guidance around how reduced timetables should be managed.
Penalty Notices
What to do if you receive a penalty notice.
Children and Young People with Medical Needs
Guidance on how education settings should support children/young people who have medical needs and information about individual health care plans.