Absence Targets
6.—(1) By no later than 31 December in every school year, the governing body of every maintained school (other than a special school established in a hospital) must set and submit to the local authority the targets specified in paragraph (2) for the level to which the absence rate on the part of relevant day pupils at the school is to be reduced.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), the targets referred to in paragraph (1) are—
(a)a final target for the current school year, being the reviewed target set in the previous school year;
(b)a reviewed target for the following school year, being the provisional target set in the previous school year but revised if the governing body deem it necessary to do so; and
(c)a provisional target for the school year next but one.
(3) Where a governing body has not previously set absence targets under these regulations, paragraph (2) is modified as follows in respect of the first occasion on which targets are required to be set—
(a)in sub-paragraph (a), the word “final” and the words following “current school year” to the end of the sub-paragraph are omitted; and
(b)in sub-paragraph (b), the word “reviewed” and the words following “following school year” to the end of the sub-paragraph are omitted.
(4) Where the local authority is not satisfied with any target submitted by a governing body under paragraph (2), it must within 3 working days of receipt of the targets from the governing body give notice to the governing body of that fact; and the governing body must submit a revised target within 21 working days of receipt of such a notice.
(5) Where the local authority is not satisfied with a revised target submitted under paragraph (4), it must set the target.
(6) In this regulation and in regulation 8—
(a)“absence” means an occasion when a relevant day pupil is recorded as absent from a school in accordance with the Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010(1);
(b)“relevant day pupil” means a registered pupil of compulsory school age apart from a boarder;
(c)“the absence rate” means the total number of absences expected in the applicable period during the school year, expressed as a percentage of the total possible attendances by pupils in that period;
(d)“the applicable period” means—
(i)for primary school pupils the period starting with the beginning of a school year and finishing with the last day of the last school term in that school year; and
(ii)for secondary school pupils the period starting with the beginning of a school year and finishing with the end of the school day falling on the Friday before the last Monday in May in that school year; and
(e)“the total possible attendances” means the number produced by multiplying the number of relevant day pupils at a school by the number of school sessions in the applicable period in a school year.
S.I. 2010/1954 (W.187).