Management Information Sheet
Fixed penalty notices in response to Year 11 absence
We will once again be supporting secondary schools this year with trying to improve this years, Year 11 cohorts' attendance during the last few months that they are required to attend statutory education. Trying to ensure that they are in school attending regularly in the lead up to their formal examinations. We have updated the Year 11 warning letter for this academic year and this can be found on the Schools and Learning Providers, fixed penalty notices page.
Where there are concerns about the attendance of Year 11 pupils that a school has been unable to address through supportive measures, they will be able to warn parents of Year 11 students that continued unauthorised absence will result in the issuing of a fixed penalty notice.
As we know, school attendance is mandatory for all pupils and the DfE expects schools to work with families and the Local Authority to secure regular school attendance for all pupils in line with statutory requirements.
We have created the warning letter to send to parents. Where attendance does not improve after the issue of this letter and the criteria of at least 9 sessions (4.5 school days) is lost to unauthorised absence by the pupil, schools will be able to refer for a fixed penalty notice in the usual way.
We do not see this as an appropriate intervention for cases of entrenched patterns of poor attendance, but rather an efficient tool to remind and focus parents and young people that they still need to attend school regularly until Friday 30 June 2023. Warning letters will need to be issued to target Year 11 concerns by 10 March 2023 as we have set the fixed warning period this year as 13 March 2023 to 12 May 2023.
This warning letter will cover the 6 weeks prior to the start of Year 11 examinations period and referrals must be submitted no later than 26 May 2023. However, if the criteria is met sooner a referral can be submitted prior to 26 May 2023.
If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact the Attendance Team at csattendance@norfolk.gov.uk or on 01603 223 681.