"Every day of school missed is a day stolen from a child's future" – Bridget Phillipson (Education Secretary), August 2025

Advice from the UK Health Security Agency

These useful guides could help determine if your child is well enough for school, and if they are unwell, when they can return to school. 

For a full list of public health exclusion periods in children and young people's settings, please see the document below. This is the same document that the school uses to determine whether a child is able to attend school. 

Children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and, where possible, avoid contact with other people. A high temperature is 38C or more. If a child develops a high temperature while at school, parents will be contacted to collect their child at the earliest opportunity. 

More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities

If you are ever in doubt, please contact the school office. 

Request for Leave of Absence

There is no general right to authorised absence for a family holiday. If you take your child out of school without permission, the absence will be unauthorised; you may be issued a Penalty Notice, and the Local Authority may consider legal action.

Schools are only able to authorise absence from school in exceptional circumstances. In making a request for an authorised absence from school, you will need to explain why the circumstances are exceptional.

If you remove your child for an unauthorised period, and it is the belief of the school and Local Authority that you have done this in a way as to avoid being issued a Penalty Notice, the Local Authority reserves the right to authorise the issuing of a Penalty Notice before the national threshold is met.

You are advised not to make any arrangements until your request has been considered, and this form is returned to you.