Just an update on this - apologies its a long one and dont want to detract from the consultation but for parents and governors to be aware! FIXED PENALTIES FOR HOLIDAYS IN TERM TIME - Zero tolerance brought into disrepute!!!!!! So Governors have the discretion to not adopt the Cabinets recommendation on coding for holidays in term time as unauthorised, so any holiday time granted by Head whether they are in the 3 exception criteria or not can be marked as authorised subject to the Governors being content. Plaid Cymru sought clarification from Welsh Government (the First Minister gave a response which was at odds with the RCT Zero tolerance position) and then pushed for further clarification from RCT. This is the Director of Educations response via the Cabinet Member See last two sentences under heading Policy of no holidays in term time. · Fixed Penalty Notices – there is a statutory requirement on all local authorities in Wales to have in place a code of conduct which sets out measures to ensure the consistency in the issuing of penalty notices. The FPN guidance from Welsh Government is clear in that local authorities, school governing bodies, school staff, and the police are required by law to have regard to the relevant parts of this guidance when carrying out their functions in relation to penalty notices, including making decisions on issuing a penalty notice under The Education (Penalty Notices) (Wales) Regulations 2013. School governing bodies are required to update their school attendance policies to incorporate the local authority’s code of conduct. · The Issuing of FPNs – the code of conduct and the guidance from Welsh Government is clear, the issuing of FPNs is at the discretion of the headteacher in consultation with the governing body. Therefore, the headteacher, in considering whether to request the local authority to issue a FPN, is able to take into account extenuating circumstances before a FPN is issued; · Policy of no holidays in term time – currently there is inconsistency across schools in respect of the coding of the school register for holidays in term time. Some schools authorise non attendance of up to 10 days for holidays in term time, others un-authorise the attendance if they consider it is not in the pupil’s best interests to be absent. Our recent re-inspection letter from Estyn referred to the fact that RCT headteachers were asking for clear guidance from the local authority on how to code holidays in term time. The recommendation to school governing bodies to un-authorise all holidays in term time, unless in exceptional circumstances, ensures consistency across the County Borough. It does not stop parents taking their children on holiday in term time, it does not change the child’s attendance percentage, but it increases the level of un-authorised absence compared to authorised absence. However, it is expected that the headteacher and governing body will take into account the impact the child’s absence (holidays or otherwise) could have on their educational performance school and decide to issue a fixed penalty notice. Governing bodies have the discretion to not adopt our recommendation on the coding of holidays in term time if they so wish. They have no such discretion over the adoption of the FPN code of conduct. Over to the Heads and Governing Bodies!
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 22:04:39 +0000
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