Attendance

Attendance and Registration

It is the responsibility of parents and carers to ensure that children attend school regularly and on time. The school gives high priority to attendance and is proactive in working with parents and carers to achieve high school attendance rates. If children are not in school, they cannot be expected to make the same progress as their peers. If your child misses school frequently, they may not be able to keep up with the schoolwork, which has a huge impact on their academic progress. They may also miss out on developing and maintaining friendships.

To support good attendance, the school works in partnership with the Local Authority Education Safeguarding Service. Attendance of all children is monitored regularly and as soon as a pupil's attendance is a cause for concern, we will contact you.

If your child will be absent from school for any reason, please phone the school absence line first thing in the morning. If we have not received a message from you by the time registers close, we will contact you to confirm your child's absence.

Please let us know in advance if you need to take your child out of school for a medical appointment. Proof of the appointment is requested. This is copied and held on your child's file.

Term Time Leave for Holidays

There are strict rules governing absences which are allowed (authorised), and those which are not (unauthorised). We strongly discourage holidays being taken during term time and other absences that cannot be authorised. They are recorded as unauthorised absences unless the case is exceptional as identified in the Local Authority guidance.

You must apply for permission in advance, using a 'Term-Time Leave Request' form. The request must come from the parent / carer with whom the child normally lives. Where children are taken out of school for holiday purposes and requests have not followed the procedure detailed in the Attendance Policy, and/or the Head of School has not been able to authorise the request, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. This may lead to a penalty notice being issued.