Attendance

It is necessary for the school to keep accurate records of all attendance, absence and poor time-keeping.

We would ask parents to read the following guidelines.

Please inform the school immediately if your child is ill or absent for any reason.

• If a child is not present when the register is taken then a late/absent mark will be recorded and the school will then take immediate steps to ensure the well being of the child.
• The Education Welfare Officer requires regular reports of the attendance of all children and may take steps to ensure that regular attendance and punctuality is maintained.
• The school must be advised beforehand of all medical appointments so that accurate registration can be maintained.
• Continual absence and poor time-keeping will be reported to the Education Welfare Officer who will visit the home to investigate.

Attendance and holidays in term-time

Pupils who have medical or dental appointments during school time are not permitted to leave unaccompanied; in every case a responsible person known to the school must collect them. Please inform the office in advance of any appointments and the identity of the person collecting the child if not the parent or carer.

Parents may not be aware, but the Secretary of State has issued new regulations for schools regarding attendance.  These regulations (Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2013) make it clear that leave of absence will not be granted during term time and remove the right of headteachers to authorise holidays.  These regulations will come in force from 1 September 2013 and refer to term-time holidays from that date.  All registration absences will have a code and schools will not be able to code absences to holidays from 1 September 2013.

Attendance at school is critical to a child’s success in the future; poor attendance is often a feature of underachievement. Two weeks’ absence in a year is equivalent to missing a whole term by the end of Year 6.

The school aims to work in partnership with parents to keep attendance as high as possible and to keep all pupils on track for success.

The academy will continue to work with the local authority to address issues of poor attendance. The local authority has the power to issue fixed penalty notices in the most serious situations.

To see our attendance policy, please visit the school policies page.