School attendance and children missing education

Introduction

Parents and carers have a legal duty to ensure their child receives suitable, full-time education. Parents usually fulfil this duty by enrolling them at school.

The Education Engagement Service fulfils the Council’s statutory responsibility to ensure parents and carers have their children in education.

Where a child is not receiving suitable, full-time education, checks are carried out to ensure children are receiving suitable education. This may include:

home visits
school attendance sweeps
contacting known family members
liaising with support services, Police and housing groups.

In Somerset, the Education Engagement Service is also responsible for supporting children, families and schools to ensure regular school attendance. Each school in Somerset has a named officer who can be contacted through the school.

We issue Penalty Notices in agreement with schools, to the parents or guardians of children who have missed school without authorisation. If parents want to question the fines they should do so directly with the school.

Parents or guardians definition

This includes any adult who has influence or control over the child in question – you may have be related to them in one of the following ways

the biological parent
step-parent
grandparent
older sibling – if over 18-years-old

We take these details from the school records. If you believe you are not, or are no longer, the parent or guardian please contact the school in the first instance to check that they have the correct information in their records.

Statutory school age

Parents need to make sure their child gets an education from the beginning of the term after their fifth birthday to the last Friday in June in the school year in which they have their 16th birthday. You could get a penalty notice after the end of the school attendance – this would relate back to a time when they were of statutory school age.

If you believe the child was not of school age please discuss this with the school in the first instance.

Unauthorised absence from school

Schools are required to keep an accurate register of attendance for every child. The decision whether to authorise any absence is made by the school in line with their attendance policy and reasons given. Schools cannot authorise any absence if a reason is not provided. If you believe they have made a mistake in the register please contact the school.

Unauthorised absence can lead to a penalty notice being issued to parents, or legal action being taken against them in the most serious cases.

Unauthorised term-time leave

Statutory guidance is clear that schools should not to authorised term-time leave unless it is both exceptional and unavoidable.

Where unauthorised leave is taken, the child is of compulsory school age and the leave meets the national threshold, schools are expected to submit a request for a penalty notice.