Attendance Policy

Full time attendance at school is crucial to children’s success. We aspire to encourage children to have 100% attendance, recognising those children who achieve this every term.

Absences

• If your child is going to be absent, you must telephone the school as soon as possible after 8.15 am with an explanation of the absence,

• Authorised absences are for illnesses or medical and dental appointments of the
child only, which should be kept to a minimum in school hours.

Unauthorised Absences

These are absences without a sound reason..

Lateness

Children should be ready to be collected by their teacher in the playground at 8.45 am. Any child who is late must instead go to the school office to have their name entered in the register – this is very important in case of a fire or other emergency.

Children who arrive between 8.45 am and 9.00 am are marked as ‘late’, children arriving after 9.00 am are  given an ‘unauthorised absence’ mark for the morning session.

It is important to ensure  that your child is registered on both the attendance and meal registers, and to make sure a meal has been ordered for them if required. This is essential for Health and Safety reasons in the event of a fire or similar incident at the school.

Afternoon registration will close at 1.10 pm.

Requests to Take an Absence During Term Time

You must complete an L5 form (available from the office) which will only be authorised for extenuating circumstances.

Escalation

1. If we do not hear from a parent by 9.00 am we will call you to find out the reason for the absence.

2. If a child is off school sick for over 4 consecutive days a letter/prescription/appointment card from the Doctors Practice must be provided to the office.

3. If attendance falls below 93% then you will be asked into school to discuss attendance and will receive a letter.

4. If attendance falls below 90% the Education Welfare Officer will be informed.

If we do not hear from you when your child is absent from school, then we may need to refer the matter to the Educational Welfare Officer. It would be much easier to contact us as soon as you know that your child will not be attending.

A telephone call would be ideal, but failing that, a letter or a message sent in with a friend or neighbour would be fine.

Please keep us informed.

September 2018

Reviewed 2019