Attendance

Punctuality and Attendance

Parents have a duty to ensure that their children arrive at school on time, properly dressed and ready to learn. It is very important that your child arrives at school on time so that we know your child is safe and does not miss valuable lesson time. If your child has to be absent from school, please either send a note of explanation, telephone the school, or see Miss Laidlaw or Miss Sergeant. This will ensure that your child's absence is marked as "authorised" in the class register. It is essential that parents provide us with an explanation for all absences otherwise it will be recorded as "unauthorised". Obviously, it is in your child's interest for absences to be kept to a minimum. If children miss school without a genuine reason it is bound to have negative effect on their education. Good attendance and punctuality will help your child to develop a healthy approach to work, both in school and in adult life. If your child is late, please bring them to the school office entrance. Every year the school notifies parents of the attendance rate of their child. The school is required by law to include the following information regarding attendance.

When your child can miss school.

The Department for Education states that:

You can only allow your child to miss school if either:

they’re too ill to go in
you have advance permission from the school

There is extra support available if your child cannot go to school for long periods because of a health problem.

There may be other exceptional circumstances where you can ask to take your child out of school. Your school will consider each application and may let you take your child out of school.

The application form for a term time absence is available from the school reception. Applications should be submitted at least four weeks prior to any intended absence.

Holidays in term time

A holiday is generally not considered an exceptional circumstance. You cannot usually take your child away during term time. You can be fined or face legal action for taking your child on holiday during term time.

For further information about government attendance and absence regulations you can refer to https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence

Attendance Policy

To view the attendance policy, please click here.