ABSENCE FROM SCHOOL

Our Senior Attendance Champion is Claire Rose.  Please contact Claire if you have any concerns about attendance matters.

Please ensure that you ring school to report your child's absence before 09:30am

Tel:      01709 813386

If your child is unexpectedly absent, and we have not received a telephone call by 9:30am, we will endeavour to ring you in order to ascertain the child’s whereabouts.

If you are struggling with your child attending school please speak to your child’s class teacher or key worker so that we are able to help you and your child resolve any issues that may have occurred.

ATTENDANCE

It is really important for our pupils to attend regularly. Please try to keep absences to a minimum. We aim to contact parents on the first day of a pupil’s absence. It would help if parents informed school of their child’s absence as soon as possible. Please do not report absence via text message to a staff member or via the bus escort. The school office is manned from 8.00am until 4.30pm every day, the school answerphone will be available to leave messages at other times. We would rather a pupil came in late than miss a whole day at school. 

What absences can be authorised?

The Department for Education (DfE) states that you can only allow your child to miss school if they are ill, or if you have advance permission from the headteacher.

The following types of absence may be marked as authorised: 

• Leave of absence authorised by the headteacher (such as time off due to bereavement).
• Holidays authorised by the headteacher, who must specify how many days are approved. These should only be approved in exceptional circumstances.
• Illness: /you must notify your child’s school on the morning of their first day of absence.
• Medical or dental appointments, although you should try to arrange these outside school hours if possible.
• Religious observance.
• Gypsy, Roma and Traveller absence when the family is travelling for occupational purposes.
• Offsite educational activities: this could include music, dance or drama exams, or participation in a sporting event. Approval is at the school’s discretion. 

What absences are not authorised?

Certain types of absence will be marked as unauthorised. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, agreed by the headteacher, time off for holidays is always unauthorised.

Absences where the parents/carers haven’t given the school a reason are also recorded as unauthorised.

If your child is late to school and the registers have closed, they will be marked as an unauthorised absence, even if they turn up later in the day. 

Do I need to keep my child off school?

It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they're unwell.  If you do keep your child at home, it's important to phone school on the first day. Let us know that your child won't be in and give them the reason.  If your child is well enough to go to school but has an infection that could be passed on, such as a cold sore or head lice, let their teacher know.

For further information please follow the link below.