Raddlebarn Primary School is adopting Birmingham’s policy for granting leave of absence in term time. This is in line with the Governments renewed appeal to parents. Absences will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances, there is no automatic right to any holidays in term time.

Leave of absence must be requested from and agreed by the Head Teacher in advance of any absence. If approved, the absence is still registered as authorised and if not approved and still taken, as unauthorised. It is recommended that as a general rule, any activity or holiday that can be arranged during the annual 13-week holiday time should not be authorised during the school term.

All unauthorised absences will be monitored by the Attendance Lead and may result in you receiving a fixed penalty fine. Unauthorised absence may be subject to a penalty notice fine of £80 payable per parent per child, increasing to £160 each if not paid within 21 days. If a second penalty notice is issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period, the notice will be charged at the higher rate.

If there is a third offence, another tool must be considered such as prosecution or another attendance legal intervention.

Please see information from Birmingham City Council updated in July 2024:

BCC letter to parents – new PN framework July 2024

New National Penalty Notice framework FAQs July 2024

We look carefully at every child’s attendance each half term. Any child who has less than 90% is monitored by the Attendance Lead who may write to you to request a meeting.