As a school we will only grant emergency leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. The request must be made by the parent with whom the child normally lives, or Social Worker if in care, and permission must be sought in advance preferably 4 weeks before the absence.
Exceptional circumstances
Examples of such exceptional circumstances include:
- When a family needs to spend time together to support each other during or after crisis.
- Service personnel who are prevented from taking holidays outside term time if the holiday will have minimal disruption to the pupil’s education.
- One off special event e.g. family wedding, graduation. (no more than 3 days)
Bristol City Council’s statement regarding penalty notices for holidays taken in term time states, that if 10 or more school sessions (either continuous or aggregated) are taken for unauthorised holiday within a period of six months then the Education Welfare Service will issue a Fixed Penalty Notice. If a holiday is taken without informing the school, it is automatically reported to the EWS as unauthorised, however many days are taken. If exceptional circumstances appear to warrant a holiday in term time then applications should be made to the Principal on the Holiday Request form for consideration.
Absence Requests for Holidays
Holidays will not be authorised during term time. Unauthorised absences of 10 or more sessions must be reported to the Education Welfare Officer. They may issue a fine (£60 per child, per parent). Absence from school without request is counted as unauthorised absence.