To ensure every family is fully aware of their child’s current attendance percentage each term we will send out a letter detailing which group your child is in.  If your child is in the red or yellow group a copy of the attendance certificate will be included.

If a child is absent for any reason unknown to the school, parents or carers must contact the school office by telephone or via the MyEd app before 9:30am on the first day of absence and every subsequent day of absence thereafter. Parents/ carers must clearly state the reason for the absence and the expected duration of illness.

 

If the office has not been informed of the reason for a child`s absence, they will endeavour to contact a parent/carer by telephone during the morning of the first day of absence. 

 

When your child returns to school, parents or carers must ensure that a written note or email is provided to explain the reason for the absence. This must be on your child’s first day of return to school.

 

 

Missing school for a medical appointment is counted as an authorised absence however; parents/carers should try to make these out of school hours.  Where this is not possible, the student should only be out of school for a minimum amount of time necessary with appointments being made at the beginning or end of the day to minimise disruption to the school day.

 

 

Absence of a child on days that are exclusively set aside for religious observance in their particular faith will be coded as a religious absence and will be authorised, but only for the day(s) of observance, not for extended leave. If you wish to take your child out of school for a religious observance please inform the school beforehand.

 

 

 

Leave of absence during term time:

As of the 1^st September 2013, the law gave no entitlement to parents to take their child on holiday during term time.  Any application for leave must only be in exceptional circumstances and the Head Teacher must be satisfied that the circumstances are exceptional and warrant the granting of leave. Head Teachers would not be expected to class any term time holiday as exceptional.  

Parents can receive a Penalty Notice from the Local Authority for taking their child on holiday during term time without consent from the school. Any period of unauthorised leave may result in a parent/carer receiving a penalty notice fine, there is no longer a defined timescale for this type of unauthorised absence and multiple fines may be issued within an academic year.

Applications for leave of absence during term time must be made in writing at least 3 weeks in advance and the school must be satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances, which   warrant the leave.  Where a leave of absence is granted, the school will determine the number of days a student can be away from school.  A leave of absence is granted entirely at the school’s discretion and is not a parental right.

A written reply will be given to any parents/carers requesting leave of absence, whether approved or not.  In the cases of leave being unauthorised the Education Welfare Worker will be made aware.