Legal Sanctions and Prosecution

Legal Sanctions

Our wish at Grestone Academy is to work together to resolve any attendance issues.  To try and identify the reason for absence we will always talk to you first to identify the reason for absence.

However, for lack of engagement in attendance support there are sanctions that will be followed:

Penalty Notices (Anti-Social Behaviour Act2003) will be considered when:

• Your child is absent from school for the purpose of a Leave of Absence in term time and the absence has not been authorised by the school.
• A child has accumulated at least ten sessions of unauthorised absence and further absence has occurred following written warning to improve

Penalty Notices will be used in accordance with Birmingham City Council Code of Conduct.

Prosecution

Where intervention through our attendance support processes fails to bring about an improvement in attendance, the local authority will be notified and legal proceedings in the Magistrates Court may be taken. We provide the Local Authority with evidence required for a prosecution under section 444/4441 (a) of the Education Act 1996 and will appear as a prosecution witness if required by the court. This is to ensure that parents realise their own responsibilities in ensuring their child’s attendance at school.

Section 4441(a) of the Education Act 1996 states that if a parent fails to ensure the regular school attendance of their child if he/she is a registered pupil at a school and is of compulsory school age, then they are guilty of an offence.

Interventions external to the school may include: 

• Parenting contracts
• Education supervision orders
• Attendance prosecution
• Parenting orders
• Fixed penalty notices

Please refer to section 6 of the DFE Working together to improve school attendance 2022 for more information.