Religious Observance:

Parents will be expected to request absence for religious observance at least two weeks advance.

The school will only accept requests from parents for absence on grounds of religious observance for days that are exclusively set apart for religious observance by the relevant religious body. The school will define this as a day where the pupil’s parents would be expected by an established religious body to stay away from their employment to mark the occasion.

The school may seek advice from the religious body in question where there is doubt over the request.

Holidays:

Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time except in exceptional circumstances. This means no holidays will be authorised.

If parents need to request absence time, they should complete the Request for Leave of Absence in Term Time Form available on the school website (www.hallgreeninfant.co.uk), stating reasons why and giving plenty of notice (no bookings should have been made at this point). Attached to this form are the DfE exceptional circumstances criteria which Headteachers are required to use when looking at individual cases.

The Headteacher will see if the request falls into any of the DfE exceptional circumstances criteria categories and make a decision as to whether authorised leave can be granted. If the request does not fall into one of the DfE categories, the Headteacher is very unlikely to grant authorised leave of absence.

Many of the categories require evidence to be presented to the school before the Headteacher can consider the request.

The Headteacher may ask parents to attend a meeting in School to discuss the request.

The outcome of the request will be sent to parents in writing.

If any time is being authorised, the letter will say how many days and the date that the child must return to school.