Term Dates
Regular attendance helps children feel that they belong, build friendships and achieve their full potential. When planning Norwood’s term dates, we aim to support strong attendance while recognising the pressures families face when arranging holidays.
Where possible, we try to ensure that school weeks contain at least three teaching days. We also analyse attendance patterns to identify when unauthorised holiday absence is highest. These dates often fall immediately before or after the May half-term holiday, or at the beginning and end of the academic year.
Where school arrangements and staff training needs allow, we aim to position INSET days alongside these holiday periods. We hope this gives families greater flexibility to explore more affordable holidays without children missing valuable learning time. Please check the published dates carefully before booking, as these arrangements may vary each year.
In return, we ask families to work with us by arranging holidays during school holidays and published INSET days, ensuring children attend on every day the school is open to them.
In line with the national attendance framework, school leaders will always consider whether a penalty notice is appropriate when a child accumulates 10 or more sessions of unauthorised absence within a rolling period of 10 school weeks. This is equivalent to five school days; the absences do not need to be consecutive and can include unauthorised holidays. Each case will be considered individually in accordance with national guidance and local authority procedures.