If you’ve seen the headlines in the Yorkshire Evening Press today (04.10.13), please don’t be misled. First, it’s important to know that nothing has changed since previous communications on the subject, despite this front page news story suggesting otherwise.
Here’s my response to a few of the misleading points:
- ‘You can take holidays in school time’ – This headline reads like parents / carers have got the green light to go on holiday in term-time – this is not true and has never (in my time in education) been true. Parents / carers might have chosen to do so in the past (we can’t physically stop families at passport control!), but schools and local authorities have never happily authorised this. Some schools in the area have not authorised holidays for many, many years. Moortown Primary has been playing catch-up with these schools because our attendance figures have been lower than other schools – they’re better now, and that’s down to stronger policies and your cooperation. Thank you.
- ‘Parents faced with fines for taking children on holiday in school term time have been thrown a lifeline…’ – I wonder who has thrown this ‘lifeline’. Nothing new has happened to warrant this story: there is no backing down on policy, there is no relaxing of rules. One of our parents this afternoon commented on the use of the term ‘lifeline’ to me: ‘it’s hardly a matter of life and death’.
- ‘The Department for Education…said that local authorities could interpret the rules as they saw fit’ – That’s certainly true, but the DfE rules are clear: headteachers should not authorise unnecessary term-time absence. This is backed up by Ofsted, who routinely use attendance figures in their inspections of schools. Moortown policy matches Leeds policy. Leeds policy is not in any way in conflict with national policy. Here’s an extract from School Attendance: statutory guidance and departmental advice (Department of Education, 2013):
Can a parent take their child on holiday during term time? Head teachers should only authorise leave of absence in exceptional circumstances… Leave is unlikely, however, to be granted for the purposes of a family holiday as a norm.
Can a school fine a parent for taking their child on holiday during term time? Yes. Parents have a legal duty to make sure that their child aged 5-16, if registered at a school, attends that school regularly. If taking an unauthorised term time holiday is grounds for issuing a penalty notice according to the local authority’s code, and if the leave of absence for holiday was not authorised by the school, either the school or the local authority may issue a penalty notice.
The Deputy Director of Learning, skills & universal services for Leeds City Council comments on the article:
The headlines are extremely misleading and encourage people to believe at first sight that not only is Leeds giving permission for heads to authorise parents to take their children out of school for holidays in term time, but also that the Local Authority are in direct conflict with the DfE. Neither of these are true. We are making plain to the YEP through formal channels our concerns about their reporting of this issue. Moreover the DfE are aware of the article and the misrepresentation.
The main body of the article is largely a reasonable discussion of the issues around the new legislation and clearly states that ‘the DfE has said today that the decision by Leeds City Council is not illegal and is in keeping with the legislation’.
To reiterate the Leeds stance: in line with new government legislation headteachers are no longer allowed to authorise any requests for holidays in term time. Only leave requested in exceptional circumstances can be authorised.
Thank you for your support and cooperation around improving our attendance in recent years, and for your continued cooperation to make sure your child’s attendance, and therefore his / her learning, continues to improve.