Pupils: Absenteeism

(asked on 31st October 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the merits of allowing parents to take children out of school and on educational visits during term-time.


Answered by
Robert Goodwill Portrait
Robert Goodwill
This question was answered on 3rd November 2017

The government’s priority is to reduce overall school absence. The evidence shows that every extra day of school missed can affect a pupil's chances of achieving good GCSEs, which has a lasting effect on their life chances. A pupil who is absent is also liable to interrupt the education of other pupils and to increase the workload on teachers, as schools seek to ensure that absent pupils catch up with work that has been missed.

We acknowledge that some parents may wish to take their children out of school for educational visits during term time; however, it would not always be possible to ensure these visits were conducted in support of the curriculum. Such visits would also be very different to excursions arranged by the school, which are conducted in an educational context where pupils are under the supervision and control of teachers, and are required to adhere to school discipline and behaviour policies.

Whilst head teachers of maintained schools have the ability to decide when exceptional circumstances allow for a child to be absent; our position is that no child should be taken out of school without good reason.

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