Absences From School

Reporting Absences due to Illness

It is essential that children attend school regularly and arrive promptly at 8.40am for the morning session and 1.00pm for the afternoon session. The Early Years are a crucial stage in education when children learn the basic skills of numeracy and literacy. If children regularly miss a lot of work or arrive late it is sometimes difficult for them to keep up with the class and maintain progress.

We are required by law to keep pupil attendance records. We must ensure that parents/carers provide an explanation of their child’s absence from school. You are requested to ring or e-mail on the first day of absence and then every two days after that. If we do not hear from you we will ring to find out the reason for absence. Your child’s absence may then be “authorised” by the Head teacher. If no explanation is received, despite reminders from the school, the absence is “unauthorised”. When parents are unable to bring their child to school themselves, alternative arrangements should be made if at all possible.

Planned Term-Time Absences

Parents do not have the right to remove their children from school in term-time. In our school no term-time absence will be authorised except in exceptional circumstances such as a family bereavement or serious illness of a close family member. Absence for religious observance may be agreed by the Head teacher but will not exceed 2 days in any school year.

If an absence has not been authorised by the Head teacher and parents or carers remove their child from school, their child’s absence will be recorded as unauthorised in the class register.

Parents and carers who take their children out of school without permission may be issued with a fixed penalty of up to £120 and face possible prosecution in court.