Siblings of child in isolation, unauthorised or authorised absence?

[CazM2012]

We received a message this morning that our eldest DC class has a confirmed case so the bubble is now at home till 12th October. I can not get the others to or from school, the school have said that is fine but I have not had any confirmation of if this will be an authorised or unauthorised absence, does anyone have any experience of which this may fall under? I have previous experience of the local authority absence team and it’s not something I want to repeat

Hello. EWO here. Don't worry. School has to report using a code that doesn't impact on attendance figures. It's not unauthorised absence, in fact it's not authorised absence either as it doesn't actually record an absence. The code means "not legally required to be in school" and won't affect the calculation for attendance. Please don't worry.

Why don’t your other children just go to school as usual? The whole family doesn’t have to isolate - I don’t think I understand the question.

I work in a school. It will be fine and won't count as unauthorised absence.

Why can't you get the others too or from school?

It's code X, which is 'not required'. It doesn't mean that they are authorising an absence, it simply means they don't have to be at school for that time. As an example, I kept DD2 off school on day 1 for cold symptoms, marked as 'authorised'. Then she developed a frequent cough, so she was tested and those days were given code X 'not required'. On the last day of absence, she'd had a negative test but was still feeling unwell, so marked 'authorised'. So a week's absence, but only 2 days marked as absence.

I think Op means that her isolating child cannot be left alone whilst she takes the other children to school.

I can not leave my 8 year old at home alone to take the others (younger) and obviously would not/can not take her out, my DH works 14 hours 4/5 days a week and his next day off is Friday next week. I have no family willing to help nor other parents to help.
Thank you for the advice, i have Emailed and asked the school but obviously This being the first case in the school they are busy and overwhelmed with questions.

What a difficult situation. You have my sympathy.

@pandamoniummm

Hello. EWO here. Don't worry. School has to report using a code that doesn't impact on attendance figures. It's not unauthorised absence, in fact it's not authorised absence either as it doesn't actually record an absence. The code means "not legally required to be in school" and won't affect the calculation for attendance. Please don't worry.

This is good to know. We had the same situation recently that DC1 was at home isolating due to a positive case in her class and we couldn't get DC2 to school when I was at work because we couldn't leave DC1 at home on her own twice a day. The school said it was fine and not to worry, but I did wonder if it would be an unauthorised absence for her with the risk of a fine. There was nothing we could do about it if it was, but I still worried. Thanks for the reassurance.

You are allowed to take the isolating child out of the house for the purpose of the school run. Our LEA has advised the child should be wearing a face mask if accompanying you.

I can almost promise you that no one is going to get fined for this sort of thing. It's just not going to happen, not at the moment.

Do you not have any classmates parents that could help out by taking your younger ones?