Unauthorised absence – a commentary on the Newspaper article

I would like to clear up some of the issues that the newspaper has raised over unauthorised absence in the last week.  The article misrepresents the truth quite seriously and I have written to the editor of the newspaper separately.

Firstly, unauthorised absence is not truancy.  It is any absence that each school deems to be unauthorised.  Therefore, it represents a decision made by each school about the status of an absence.  Clearly these figures represent the decisions and interpretation made by each school.

Here at Chaucer, we have a policy decision, supported and backed by our Governing Body, not to authorise the absence of a child who is away from school whilst taking a family holiday in term time.  This is a decision we have not taken lightly because we know that a two week holiday in term time is much cheaper than one taken in the summer.  Yet we also know that a two week holiday represents 5% annual absence for each child, so we have a dilemma.  Do we worry about league tables or do the right thing?

Every school on the published list expends a huge amount of tax payers’ money on chasing up absence and making decisions that go towards ensuring that we educate all of our youngsters to the highest standards possible.  Our examination results, and indeed Canterbury schools’ examination results, are much better than national averages.

Simon Murphy
Principal