A. This can be a very confusing issue and local authorities are not required to offer a delayed start. I am only addressing here the issue of when education becomes compulsory.

A. Yes it does. A child cannot be marked absent if they are present when the register is taken. The flexibility to move registration to the end of the day was introduced supposedly to detect those children who left early but I have never seen the point of it.

A. This is another example where modern lifestyles may not easily fit with Education Acts designed for the late nineteenth century. The original idea is still enshrined in s.444(6) of the Education Act 1996.

A. This is a question which the attendance regulations and DfE guidance don’t really recognise. We know that parents have always been entitled to authorised absence when a festival of their own religion falls on a school day. That was traditionally only meant to cover Ascension Day or Corpus Christi as other Christian festivals all fell in school holidays anyway. It now mostly involves Eid when academies and free schools could close if they wish to.