Section 30 of the 1980 Education Act lays a duty on every parent of a child of “school age” to ensure that their child attends school regularly. Attendance must be recorded twice a day, morning and afternoon. Regulation 7 of the Education (School and Placing Information) (Scotland) Amendment, Etc Regulations 1993 requires each child’s absence from school to be recorded in the school register as authorised or unauthorised, as defined by the Scottish Executive.
At the start of each school session, parents will be asked to provide contact details including at least one emergency contact number, including, where possible, a number that will accept a text message. Parents are required to inform the school if these contact details change during the course of the year. Parents and carers are asked to inform the school if a pupil is unable to attend from the start of the school day on the first day of absence. Failure to do so will result in school staff accessing contact numbers provided for the child and may result in the school sending a text message. Parents are asked to inform the school by letter or telephone, if their child is likely to be absent for some time, and to give the child a note on his or her return to school, confirming the reason for absence.
(a) Family Holidays during term time
Every effort should be made to avoid family holidays during term time as this both disrupts the child’s education and reduces learning time. Parents/guardians should inform the school by letter of the dates before going on holiday.
Absences will be classified as authorised only in exceptional circumstances. Such circumstances may include:
A family holiday judged to be important to the wellbeing and cohesion of the family, following serious or terminal illness, bereavement or other traumatic events.
A family holiday classified under the “authorised absence” category will not include such reasons as:
- The availability of cheap holidays
- The availability of desired accommodation
- Poor weather experience during school holidays
- Holidays which overlap the beginning or end of term
- Parental difficulty obtaining leave (except in cases where evidence is provided by the employer that it cannot accommodate leave during school holidays without serious consequences)
- Family holidays with the above similar characteristics will be classified as unauthorised absence. Where the Head Teacher’s prior agreement has not been sought the absence will automatically be classed as unauthorised.
