Attendance and Children Out of School (ACOS)

Introduction

The Attendance and Children Out of School (ACOS, formerly known as the Pupil Attendance Service and the Education Welfare Service) team is part of Camden Learning.

Attendance and Children Out of School has responsibility for the following areas:

• Attendance at school ([email protected])
• Child Performance Licence and Child Work Permit ([email protected])
• Chaperone Licence ([email protected])
• Elective Home Education - educating your child at home ([email protected])
• Pupil Not in School register (from September 2027) ([email protected])

Find information about Freedom of Information requests.

There's also data on Elective Home Education and Penalty Notices on the Camden Open Data website. Information is updated annually in August.

Attendance at school is a high priority for Camden.

Regular and punctual attendance of pupils at school is a legal and essential requirement for students to maximise the opportunities available to them. It is recognised that most parents and carers want to comply with the law and the service will provide advice and assistance where possible to help parents / carers meet their legal obligations. Camden’s minimum attendance expectation for all its students is 95% although all of Camden’s schools will always strive for 100% attendance from all their students.

Department for Education (DfE) attendance guidance shows that children who attend school on a regular basis do better in terms of education achievement.

Further guidance on marking attendance is:

“Improving attendance is everyone’s business. The barriers to accessing education are wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families. Good attendance begins with school being somewhere pupils want to be and therefore the foundation of securing good attendance is that school is a calm, orderly, safe, and supportive environment where all pupils are keen and ready to learn.”

Camden, in line with DfE guidance, supports schools to:

• promote good attendance
• reduce absences including persistent absences
• ensure pupils have access to full time education
• act early to address patterns of absence

Camden expects parents to:

• ensure that where their child is of compulsory school age and registered at a school they will ensure they attend regularly
• arrive at school on time
• inform schools if their child is unable to attend school in line with the school attendance policy
• not take leave in term time

The Education Act 1996 Section 7 states
“ The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable—

(a)to his age, ability and aptitude, and

(b)to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. Educating your child at Home

Legislation 

• The Children Act 1989 (section 36)
• The Education Act 1996 (sections 7, 19, 436A, 437-39, 443-447)
• Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (section 8 -10)
• The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (ASB Act) (sections 19-24)
• The Education Act 2005 (section 115)
• The Education and Inspections Act 2006 (sections 97-111)
• The Education (Parenting Contracts and Parenting Orders) (England) Regulations 2007
• The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007
• The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012
• The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013
• The Education and Skills Act 2008 (section 2 and155)

Penalty Notice Policy (PDF)

Enforcement Policy (PDF)

A referral may be made to the local authority under the following circumstances:

• 10 sessions or 5 days of continuous unauthorised absence
• a term-time holiday taken without permission
• a pupil who has marked as with an unauthorised late using Code U (after the close of registers) for 10 sessions
• poor attendance with at least 10% or more unauthorised absence

Penalty notices will involve the recipient paying a fine of £80 if paid within 21 days or £160 if paid within days 21 to 28. Penalty notices are issued per parent per child, with each case being a separate offence.

Up to 2 penalty notices can be issued in a 3-year period. The 3-year period begins from the date of the first penalty notice issued.

For the second penalty notice issued within the 3 years to the same parent for the same child, the penalty notice will be charged at £160 from day one to day 28.

Where payment of a penalty notice is made it enables the parents to discharge potential liability for conviction for that offence, and the offence period and no criminal record is given to the parent. If a parent fails to pay within the timescales, the local authority must decide to either withdraw the notice or to take court proceedings.

If court proceedings are undertaken, and proven, a parent may be fined up to £1,000 and receive a criminal conviction for a s.444 (1) offence. If convicted of a s.444 (1A) offence (the higher offence) they could receive a fine of up to £2,500 up to 3 months in prison and a criminal record. If court proceedings are undertaken, and proven, a parent may be fined up to £1,000 and receive a criminal conviction for a s.444 (1) offence. If convicted of a s.444 (1A) offence (the higher offence) they could receive a fine of up to £2,500 up to 3 months in prison and a criminal record.

The court could also order:

• a Victim Surcharge
• costs for the court cases
• Parenting Contract as per the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003
• Education Supervision Order
• Other community orders at the discretion of the court

Camden strongly advises against taking leave in term.

There is no entitlement in law for any leave of absence from school in term time. While we're committed to supporting all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the Equality Act 2010 does not exempt families from attendance regulations. Instead, it requires schools to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that children with disabilities are not placed at a substantial disadvantage. These adjustments typically relate to access to education and support within the school environment, rather than authorising term-time holidays. A holiday in term can disrupt the home and school routines and learning for your child.

Taking leave in term time will affect your child’s schooling as much as any other absence and we expect parents to help us by not taking children away in school time.

Remember that any monetary savings you may make by taking a holiday in school time are offset by the cost to your child’s education. The DfE attendance guidance stated “Generally, the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance.”

Head teachers should not grant leave of absence unless there are exceptional circumstances based on the individual facts and circumstances of the case which warrant the leave. Where a leave of absence is granted, the head teacher will determine the number of days a pupil can be away from school. A leave of absence is granted entirely at the head teacher’s discretion.

Parents are required to apply in advance for permission from each school where their children are enrolled. Where the school is aware that there is a sibling at another school, they should liaise with the head teacher of that school to try to coordinate a consistent response between schools. However, in exceptional circumstances schools may make a different decision, given that the head teacher of any school retains the ultimate decision for unauthorised leave.

Only the headteacher can decide if they will grant exceptional leave – no one else in school has permission to do so and leaving an application form or talking to your child’s teacher is not permission to take leave. We fully support the decisions made by headteachers.

If a school does not authorise a leave of absence for the purpose of a holiday but the parents still take the child out of school, or the child is kept away for longer than was agreed, the absence is unauthorised. The regulations do not allow schools to give retrospective approval. If the parents did not apply for leave of absence in advance, the absence must be recorded as unauthorised. The headteacher may request that the local authority take legal action against you.

Term dates

School term dates are published in advance and can be found on the school's website.

While every effort is made for common term dates across the councils, there are times that term dates may differ if you have children attending more than one school. Check the term dates on each school website and do not assume each school will have the same term dates.

They are also available from the school office and will be regularly highlighted in the school newsletter.

Staff training days (inset days) are included in the term dates schedule. Parents or carers will receive written notice of any changes in term dates. Those changes would also be published in the calendar on the weekly school newsletter.

You can contact the Attendance and Children Out of School (ACOS) team by email on [email protected].