Schools: Attendance

(asked on 21st July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2020 to Question 64157, and with reference to the Parentkind survey results published on 16 July 2020, what steps he is taking to inform parents and carers that it is safe for children to return to school in September; and whether he plans to suspend fines for parents and carers who do not send children to school in September.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 1st September 2020

All pupils, in all year groups, will return to school full time from the beginning of the autumn term. The Department has published guidance for parents and carers detailing what they need to know about education settings in the autumn term. The guidance is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-in-the-autumn-term.

On 2 July the Government published guidance on the full opening of schools, including a Public Health England endorsed system of controls which, when implemented alongside the school’s own risk assessment, will create an inherently safer environment for children and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced.

On 17 August, the Government launched a ‘Back to School’ campaign which seeks to reassure parents and explain measures that nurseries, childminders, schools and colleges are taking to reduce the risk of transmission. The Department has worked closely with Department for Transport and Cabinet Office to support and inform parents.

It is vital that children and young people return to school for their educational progress, for their wellbeing, and for their wider development. School attendance will again be mandatory from the beginning of the new academic year. For parents and carers of children of compulsory school age, this means that the legal duty as a parent to send a child to school regularly will apply.

Schools should work with families to ensure children are attending full time from September. As usual, fines will sit alongside this, but only as a last resort and where there is no valid reason for absence.

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