Inclusive Attendance 

Dear Parents and Carers,

This year, we have had the opportunity to work in partnership with an organisation called Inclusive Attendance. Through this collaboration, our staff are receiving high‑quality training focused on supporting positive school attendance. Together, we aim to empower every child to attend school regularly and to address any barriers they may experience in their educational journey.

At Shrewsbury Cathedral Catholic Primary School and Nursery, effective communication with our families is central to our ethos and success. In light of this, we are making a small but important change to how we share attendance information.

Rather than reporting attendance solely as a percentage, we will now focus on the number of school days missed. We believe this approach is simpler, clearer, and helps children and families better understand the real impact that missing school days can have on learning.

In schools, Persistent Absence (PA) is defined as a pupil missing 19 or more school days in an academic year, for any reason (authorised or unauthorised). Missing this amount of school can have a significant negative impact on a child’s learning, wellbeing, and future opportunities. Persistent absence may arise for a range of reasons, including health concerns, family circumstances, or emotional factors such as anxiety or school‑related worries.

As part of recent guidance, schools are required to assess the likelihood of pupils becoming persistently absent and to share this information with families. This ensures that concerns are highlighted early, support can be offered where needed, and potential fines can be avoided. Our assessments are based on the number of days a pupil has been absent to date, using the following scale:

Number of Days Absent to Date — Risk Level

• 19+ days – Already persistently absent
• 10+ days – High risk of persistent absence
• 5–9 days – Moderate risk of persistent absence
• 0–4 days – Low risk of persistent absence

If you have any questions regarding this, please don’t hesitate to contact school.

We look forward to continuing working closely with all of you to ensure our children get the best possible education we can offer.

Leave in Term Time - Regulations on Attendance at school from the 1st September 2024

From August 19^th 2024 the Government have introduced a new ‘national framework for Penalty Notices’.

 There are significant changes that parents need to be aware of:

• If your child has 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a 10 school week rolling period, you may be issued with a Penalty Notice. These 10 sessions may include any unauthorised absence, including leave in term time and do not have to be consecutive.
• Penalty Notices are increasing to £160 from September 2024. This can be reduced to £80 but only for the first Penalty Notice issued, if paid within 21 days – this reduction does not apply to any subsequent Penalty Notice.
• Any 2^nd Penalty Notice, to the same parent for the same child, issued within three years of the date of the first Penalty Notice will be charged at a flat rate of £160
• A third Penalty Notice will not be issued within a three year rolling period, to the same parent for the unauthorised absence of the same child, - alternative action or legal measures will be utilised for subsequent offences.
• If in an individual case the local authority believes a Penalty Notice would be appropriate, they retain the discretion to issue one before the threshold is met. For example, when a parent purposefully tries to avoid a Penalty Notice by taking their child out of school when there is only four pupil days in school and the fifth day is for example a PD day or bank holiday attached to that week.
• In some circumstances a ‘Notice to Improve’ may be issued – However, a Notice to Improve will only be used in cases where support is appropriate. They will not be issued in cases of unauthorised leave in term time for holidays, where information for parents is included on schools website or a simple warning by the school that a Penalty Notice could be issued if unauthorised leave in term time is taken will suffice.

‘Parents should always apply to the Executive Headteacher for any request for leave in term time by completing a request form available from school.  (DfE guidance states schools should not authorise leave retrospectively so any leave in term time taken without a request being submitted will be unauthorised absence)’.

In developing and publishing the new national framework, the Government has renewed appeals to parents not to take their children out of school during term time.  The Governors and Executive Headteacher of this school support this and students will only be given permission to take leave in term time if there are exceptional circumstances. The DfE Guidance Working Together to Improve School Attendance (Feb 2024) states that: Generally, the DfE does not consider the need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance. (Paragraph 38.)

Each application for leave in term time will be considered and if it is agreed and authorised the Executive Headteacher will determine the duration of any leave. However, if the application is not agreed and the absence occurs the dates will be unauthorised. Parents will be notified of any decision in writing. This notification may be hand delivered directly to the parent or posted to the parents’ home address.

As a school we are asked to inform you that in line with Shropshire Policy, if your child is absent for 10 school sessions within a 10 week rolling period and that absence is unauthorised, you may be subject to a Penalty Notice fine, criteria is as detailed above.

For further information please contact the school or refer to our Attendance Policy on our website.