Authorised
Authorised absence is where the school has given approval in advance or has accepted an explanation offered afterwards. By authorising a pupil's absence the school approves it and agrees there is good reason. Only schools can do this; you should contact them as early as possible to explain why your child needs to be absent and to obtain permission.
Acceptable reasons may include:
- emergency medical/dental appointments
- family bereavement
- illness - if it is a prolonged illness or if it causes regular absences, some form of medical evidence may be required
- days of religious observance, to be agreed in advance by the headteacher
Unauthorised
By not authorising the absence, the school is saying that either a reason has not been provided, or the reason provided is not acceptable.
Absences that schools do not consider reasonable include:
- visiting relatives
- shopping
- birthdays
- looking after siblings
- routine medical/dental appointments
- holidays
Role of the school and home-school agreements
If your child is registered at a school you should have a written home-school agreement. The home-school agreement explains the aims and values of your child’s school and sets out the responsibilities of the school, parents and pupils.
The school will:
- inform parents/carers and pupils of term dates and non-pupil days
- register pupil attendance twice a day, in the morning and afternoon
- distinguish between authorised and unauthorised absences in their registers
- make all necessary preliminary investigations into pupil absence
- follow up insufficiently explained or unexplained absence directly with the parent/carer before notifying the Education Welfare Officer
- liaise with parents/carers and pupils to address attendance concerns
- publish details of absences
- include a record of absences in annual reports to parents
- notify parents and the local authority of absences from school
- develop a clear written policy on attendance
In addition to the above, some schools may:
- run initiatives to encourage and support good and improved attendance
- conduct regular spot checks and patrols to detect and deter lesson truancy