ATTENDANCE ADVICE FOR GYPSY, ROMA & TRAVELLER PUPILS
Good school attendance is vital to ensuring a child or young person receives an effective education. Attendance is so important that schools are required by law to follow strict attendance rules and must follow up on cases of poor attendance.
The law requires all children receive a full-time education from age five until the last Friday of June after they have turned sixteen.
As a parent it is your legal duty to make sure your child receives a full-time education during the child’s mandatory school age. You can be fined for taking your child out of school during term time without the school’s permission. Parents can also be criminally prosecuted if they don’t meet this duty either by not ensuring their child attends school, or if they do not provide suitable home education for children who are not enrolled at a school.
When can you use the T Code?
- Travelling for work: You must be travelling for work, moving from place to place for your job, and agree with the school beforehand. If you are travelling to a different area for a set time, you can also ask for dual registration, meaning your child can attend a different school while travelling and still keep their place at their main school.
- School attendance: Your child must have attended at least 200 school sessions (100 days) in the past 12 months if they are over six years old.
- You do not need to be of no fixed abode/travelling permanently: Some of the wording of the 2024 guidance has caused confusion. The Department for Education have confirmed that the definition of ‘no fixed abode’ under the new guidance could be either:
- Someone who travels all year round as part of their trade or business and has no permanent address at all.
- Or someone who does have a fixed place to live (like a house or on a site), but does not live there for a substantial part of the year, if their parent is engaged in a trade or business that requires them to travel from place to place.
If the child is absent from school while travelling with parents who are working, then code T applies.
When can you not use the T code?
- Other reasons: You cannot use the T Code to take your child out of school for events like weddings or funerals.
- Non-parent/guardian travel: The T Code cannot be used if someone other than the child’s parent/guardian is taking them travelling.
Important things to remember
- Speak to the school: Tell the school the dates you are travelling for work as early as possible.
- Head teacher’s decision: The head teacher decides if the T Code can be used.
- Attendance expectation: Traveller children are still expected to attend 380 sessions each school year.
- Fines for unauthorised absence: You can be fined £80 (rising to £160 if not paid within 21 days) if your child misses school without permission.
- Authorised absence: If the T Code is used correctly, it counts as an authorised absence, which will affect attendance but should not result in a fine.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
No. The Headteacher can only authorise these types of absence in exceptional circumstances.
Choose a realistic date and stay in touch with school while you are away and tell them if your plans change. Call the school to tell them of any changes to your travel plans or your child could lose their school place.
If you go travelling and have not spoken to the Headteacher, you could lose your school place after 20 days or get a fine.
If you need further advice please speak to your child’s school, college or early years setting or email tes@cognus.or.uk.