Attendance

Don’t give pupils time off for protests, new school guidance says

Clarity comes after Gillian Keegan said 'missing school for activism is unacceptable'

Clarity comes after Gillian Keegan said 'missing school for activism is unacceptable'

29 Feb 2024, 12:41

More from this author

Pupils should not be given approval to take time off school for protests, new statutory attendance guidance that comes into force from August sets out.

The clarity comes after education secretary Gillian Keegan intervened over pupils going on pro-Palestine rallies, declaring “missing school for activism is unacceptable”.

Previously, lawyers said such decisions were down to headteachers, who could technically choose to allow absence under the “exceptional circumstances” exemption.

But new statutory ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, published this morning and which will take hold in August, states: “Leave of absence should not be granted for a pupil to take part in protest activity during school hours.”

The current attendance guidance does not contain anything relating to the word ‘protest’.

Keegan said she was “deeply concerned” in November after reports youngsters had missed class to join marches supporting Palestine, amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.

Left-wing group Stop the War Coalition had published guidance online about “how to organise a school strike”, alongside a template absence letter to send to headteachers. But that webpage no longer exists.

Pupils also joined a mass protest in 2019 over climate change. The government later warned that schools should not encourage pupils to take part in such protests, as part of its draft sustainability strategy.

However this appears to have been cut from the final strategy, published in 2022.

The new attendance guidance is also more explicit on which scenarios schools should grant leave of absences.

This includes taking part in a “regulated performance or employment abroad”, attending an interview or for study leave. There is still a category for “exceptional circumstances”, with applications to be considered individually.

However the next paragraph makes clear that this should not include protests.

Latest education roles from

Executive Director of Finance – Moulton College

Executive Director of Finance – Moulton College

FEA

Director of Governance – HRUC

Director of Governance – HRUC

FEA

Principal and CEO

Principal and CEO

Hills Road Sixth Form College

Senior Quality Officer

Senior Quality Officer

University of Lancashire

Sponsored posts

Sponsored post

IncludEd Conference: Get Inclusion Ready

As we all clamber to make sense of the new Ofsted framework, it can be hard to know where...

SWAdvertorial
Sponsored post

Helping every learner use AI responsibly

AI didn’t wait to be invited into the classroom. It burst in mid-lesson. Across UK schools, pupils are already...

SWAdvertorial
Sponsored post

Retire Early, Live Fully: What Teachers Need to Consider First

Specialist Financial Adviser, William Adams, from Wesleyan Financial Services discusses what teachers should be considering when it comes to...

SWAdvertorial
Sponsored post

AI Safety: From DfE Guidance to Classroom Confidence

Darren Coxon, edtech consultant and AI education specialist, working with The National College, explores the DfE’s expectations for AI...

SWAdvertorial

More from this theme

Attendance

Schools should take ‘proactive’ action to get kids back to class, new rules state

Everything leaders need to know from new statutory guidance on children missing education

Jack Dyson
Attendance

NFER’s 5 ways to cut school absence

'Schools should consider prioritising encouraging and individualised approaches in addition to punitive sanction'

Lydia Chantler-Hicks
Attendance

Big jump in SEND pupils missing more school than they attend

Severe absence increases among some of the most vulnerable pupils in the system

Freddie Whittaker
Attendance

95%+ attendance almost doubles odds of GCSE pass

DfE research finds missing just 10 days of year 11 halves the odds of getting a grade 5 in...

Rhi Storer

Your thoughts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *