School will be closed on the following days for Staff Training:
- Monday September 2nd 2024
- Tuesday September 3rd 2024
- Wednesday September 4th 2024
- Monday 6th January 2025
Please visit the Durham County Council website to view or download the school holidays dates for this academic year and next year for all community schools, special schools and voluntary controlled schools. Please note that voluntary aided (church) schools, foundation schools and academies may have set different dates and you should check with the school or academy to confirm their arrangements or view the PDF for schools not following the standard term and holiday dates.
https://www.durham.gov.uk/schoolholidays
School Holidays During Term Time
The Government has amended regulations for taking holidays in term time and these new regulations came into effect in August 2024.
Head teachers have the discretion to grant leave, but they should only do so in exceptional circumstances. If a head teacher grants a leave request, it will be for them to determine the length of time that the child can be away from school. This leave is unlikely, however, to be granted for the purposes of a family holiday.
If your child misses school without a valid reason, schools and local councils can intervene and parents may be issued a fine. The DfE have introduced a new national framework which will mean all councils have the same rules in place for when they need to consider a fine.
In the majority of cases, schools and local authorities will try and provide support to help you improve your child’s attendance first, but if this isn’t effective or the absence is for an unauthorised term time holiday, parents may face paying a fine. It’s the responsibility of the local authority to decide when to issue fines to parents, meaning the process varies from council to council.
However, under the national rules, all schools are required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons.
From August 2024, the fine for school absences across the country will be £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. This rate is in line with inflation and is the first increase since 2012.
In the case of repeated fines, if a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160.
Fines per parent will be capped to two fines within any three-year period. Once this limit has been reached, other action like a parenting order or prosecution will be considered.
If you’re prosecuted and attend court because your child hasn’t been attending school, you could get a fine of up to £2,500.
Money raised via fines is only used by the local authority to cover the costs of administering the system, and to fund attendance support. Any extra money is returned to the government.
Please contact the school if you wish to discuss this with the Headteacher.
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