Wiltshire Council Attendance Guidelines
Wiltshire Council Guidelines on attendance: Jan 2014
Authorised and unauthorised absence from school
Parents do not have a legal right to take their children out of school. It is always the head teacher’s decision whether or not to allow you to take your child out of school during term time. If you do not ask their permission in advance, or they do not give it and you take your child out of school anyway, this will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.
Head teachers may authorise an absence from school during term time if there are exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances may include:
- The death or terminal illness of a person in the immediate family.
- Service personnel and other employees who cannot take leave outside term time at any point in the academic year.
You must make any requests for leave of absence in advance and you must be the parent the child normally lives with.
Holidays/Leave of absence in term time
From 1st September 2013, government rules mean that head teachers are not able to authorise any requests for children to be taken out of school, except for exceptional circumstances, and family holidays do not fall into this category.