Bryan Slater Director of Education	Distribution
	To Headteachers of LEA maintained Schools

The attached document is provided for your information:

INFORMATION	Title	Holidays in Term Time
	Summary of contents	Letter clarifying the marking of attendance register when a pupil is absent to accompany their parent/carer on their annual holiday.
	Associated documents
	Date	9^th September 2004
	Effective from	Immediately
	LEA Contact	Val Creasy	(	01603 223528
	E-mail address	val.creasy@norfolk.gov.uk
	Norfolk Self Review reference	6. How well does the school work in partnership with parents?
	Document reference	MI 168/04

Dear Headteacher

Holidays in Term Time

The purpose of this letter is to clarify the situation with regard to the marking of the attendance register when a pupil is absent to accompany their parent/carer on their annual holiday.

The process should be:

· Parent/carer completes 'holiday request form' and returns it to school

· Head teacher, or other designated teacher, considers the request in line with the DfES guidance and any school policy that has been approved by the Governing Body

· If the decision is to approve the request then the parent/carer should be informed and the attendance register should be marked as 'authorised absence'

· If the decision is not to approve the request then the parent/carer should be informed

· If the parent/carer still takes the child on holiday then the attendance register should be marked as 'unauthorised absence'

The decision to approve a request for a pupil to take a holiday in term time lies with the school and the Governing Body. A parent/carer does not have a right to remove their child from school for this purpose and need to be aware that if they choose to do so then the resulting absence from school may be recorded as unauthorised absence.

A holiday request form and detailed guidance is available on the Norfolk EsiNet.

Yours sincerely

Bryan Slater

Director of Education