Attendance

Why is regular attendance so important?

Any absence affects the pattern of a child’s schooling and regular absence will seriously affect their learning. Any child’s absence disrupts teaching routines so may affect the learning of others in the same class. Ensuring every child’s regular attendance at school is the parent’s/carer’s responsibility and permitting absence from school without good reason creates an offence in law and may result in prosecution.

Attendance MATTERS.  Missing school hurts your child’s education.  Below is a table illustrating the impact that absences and failure to arrive at school on time can have upon your child’s school life throughout the academic year:

Absence Procedures (click here to view our Attendance Policy)

Your child should attend school every day unless:

• They are too sick to leave the house.
• They have an infectious disease like chicken pox, mumps or measles.
• They have an injury preventing them from moving around school.
• They have an urgent appointment (wherever possible appointments should be made out of school hours). If an appointment must be made during the school day, depending on the time of the appointment, your child should still attend school before or after the appointment.

If your child is absent from school you must:

Contact school as soon as possible on the first day of absence, either by telephoning school or reporting the absence in person at the school office.  

We also ask that you send your child into school with a note upon their return with an explanation of the absence (acceptable for older pupils) or (in the case of younger children) accompany your child into school and speak directly with the Class Teacher.

We are responsible for:

• Telephoning parents/carers on the first day of absence if we have not heard from them.
• Inviting parents/carers in to school to discuss the situation with the Trust's Education and Welfare Officer or Head of School if absences persist.
• Referring the matter to the Local Authority Attendance and Pupil Support Service if attendance falls below 90%.
• Reporting to parents on a half termly basis informing them of their child’s attendance and punctuality.

Lateness:

Poor punctuality is not acceptable. If a child misses the start of the day they can miss work and do not spend time with their class teacher, getting vital information and news for the day. Late arriving pupils also disrupt lessons; this can also be embarrassing for the child concerned.

• Children will receive a late mark if they are not in class by the end of registration.
• All children arriving after registration period should report to the school office where the reason for their lateness will be recorded.

If a child has a persistent late record parents/carers will be asked to meet with the Trust's Attendance and Welfare Officer or the Head Teacher to resolve the problem.  However, parents/carers can approach us at any time if they are having problems getting children to school on time.

Term Time Holidays:

What is the law regarding term-time holidays?

The law says that you do not have the right to take your child out of school for holidays during term-time.  If you decide to take your child out of school, this will be recorded as unauthorised absence and will be reported to the Local Authority. 

Government legislation has been introduced to reduce absences from school.  This means that local authorities have the right to issue a penalty notice of £60 PER PARENT/CARER PER CHILD (rising to £120 if not paid within a specified time period).

Consistent attendance at school is crucial to give your child the best chance of success.