Attendance & Punctuality

School term dates can be found on Sandwell Council website – www.sandwell.gov.uk Please note that the term dates do not include staff training days/other closure days. Please refer to the school calendar section for this information.

Since September 2013, there have been some major changes to the regulations relating to leave of absence/holidays during term time.  This, unfortunately, will affect the way that we at Tividale have worked with parents in the past regarding authorising holiday requests.  We were previously allowed to grant leave of absence for the purpose of a family holiday ‘in special circumstances’ of up to 10 school days leave per year.

The latest changes to these regulations mean that from 1st September 2013 schools are no longer allowed to grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

Exceptional circumstances do not include family holidays, visiting relatives or friends, attending sporting or other events, looking after family members who are unwell, babysitting younger family members, birthdays, shopping or airport trips etc.

Where parents decide to take children out of school during term time the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and, under the new regulations, we are required to refer the absence to the Attendance and Prosecutions Service which may result in you being issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice.

Please be advised that parents who fail to ensure their child’s regular attendance can be fined £60 (per parent, per child).  This can rise to £120 (per parent, per child) if not paid within the deadline.

Always aim for 100% attendance. 

Sometimes 90% sounds great - for example this would be a great result in a test...however, in terms of attendance it means your child misses 1 whole school day every fortnight.

Always aim to be on time. 

Did you know that arriving 10 minutes late to school everyday means that your child misses 32 hours of lesson time each year?  Your child also misses the introduction to the school day and morning routines that are vital to set the children up for the day ahead.