Legal Interventions

Where support is appropriate, schools should have followed a support first approach to identify the reasons for the pupil's absence, any barriers impacting the pupil's attendance and supportive strategies to remove any such barriers. In scenarios where the offers of support have not been engaged with or have not worked, a Notice to Improve - Norfolk Schools (Word doc) [34KB] should usually be sent to parent(s) to give them a final chance to engage with support. A Notice to Improve is a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before a penalty notice is issued or alternative legal intervention pursued.

Schools across Norfolk may issue a Notice to Improve to any parent whose child's absence levels have triggered the national threshold for a penalty notice - i.e. 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks.

The Notice to Improve may be used to offer parent(s) a final opportunity to engage with support and improve the attendance levels of the child concerned. Where a parent fails to engage with the offer of support during the Notice to Improve validity period and/or further unauthorised absences are recorded for the pupil and/or the pupil fails to make significant improvements in their attendance patterns, a penalty notice may be issued.

All Notices to Improve issued by Norfolk schools will have a validity period of 6 school weeks (a maximum of 30 school days) and will clearly list the attempts which have been made and support which has already been offered to resolve the absence concerns. Parents should be provided with clear contact details for the staff member(s) within the school that they should contact to access the support that remains available during the Notice to Improve validity period.

Attendance records will be reviewed daily throughout the improvement period by school and, where further unauthorised absence is recorded, consideration will be given as to whether a penalty notice referral should be submitted. Schools are not required to wait until 30 school days have passed before considering a penalty notice referral - decisions will need to be taken on a case-by-case basis, based on the level of parental/pupil engagement and/or level of attendance improvement noted.

Sufficient improvement during the Notice to Improve validity period may include evidence of no further unauthorised absences within the improvement period or a sufficient amount of improvement tailored to the specific family circumstances.

If there is no improvement in attendance or parent(s) continues not to engage once the Notice to Improve has been issued, schools should complete a referral to the Attendance Team. Based on the information provided in the referral, the Attendance Team will determine the most appropriate course of action to change parental behaviour. More information on how to complete a referral can be found on our Best practice for addressing leave of absence during term time page.

Schools should use the template Notice to Improve linked above which has been produced by the Attendance Team.  This can also be accessed in Attendance forms and templates, under Legal Intervention.