School attendance

Schools’ responsibilities relating to attendance, detailed in the Education Regulations, include:

• taking a register twice each day (at the start of the morning session and once during the afternoon)
• using the appropriate National Attendance Codes
• complying with statutory registration and deletion procedures School attendance guidance - Gov.uk.

Where there are concerns about pupil absence, schools should maintain a record of all contact (successful and attempted) with the pupil, parent(s) and other agencies. Schools will be required to produce this as evidence if legal intervention is required.

The council would consider court action against parents whose children do not attend school regularly.

Schools can make a referral to the Attendance Service using the following guidance and referral forms.

• Child Missing Education (CME) referral form.
• Guide to complete CME referral form.
• Children leaving country form.
• Persistent absence referral form
• Guidance to complete persistent absence referral.
• Penalty notice and warning period proforma.
• Guidance to complete warning period and penalty notice proforma.