Absence

As a school we place a very high priority on attendance at school. Daily attendance at school is a legal requirement. We ask that parents notify us by phonecall or e mail if a child is to be absent and we ask for a reason to explain the absence. We need to be informed on a daily basis of continued absence.

Registers are sent to the office at 9.00am. The classroom doors are shut at 8.50am.  Arrival at school after 8.50 am is classified as 'late' and a child will need to be signed in at the main office.  

All reason for absence are recorded and reported to the school Attendance Officer.

Permission must be sought from the Headteacher for all planned periods of absence. An unacceptable level of absenteeism could result in legal action being taken by the authority. We strongly discourage holidays in term time and except in exceptional circumstances all absence will be unauthorised.

All request for holiday absence will be considered individually. It is the responsibility of the head teacher and governors to decide whether or not to authorise leave of absence. When making the decision the following factors will be considered:

• the amount of time requested
• age of the pupil
• the pupil’s general absence/attendance record
• proximity to SATs and public examinations
• length of the proposed leave
• pupil’s ability to catch up the work
• pupil’s educational needs
• general welfare of the pupil
• circumstances of the request
• purpose of the leave
• frequency of the activity, and
• when the request was made.

When requesting absence for a child from school, we ask parents to bear in mind that:

• there are only 40 teaching weeks in the school year; there are 12 weeks of holiday. 
• missing five days of learning every term of every year is the same as missing one whole school year
• whilst 95% attendance sounds good your child is missing one day of learning a month