Attendance
By law, parents are required to ensure that their children of compulsory school age are registered at school and attend regularly. Absence should only occur when a child is unfit to learn or has a day of religious observance. For children to achieve all they are capable of, it is essential that they attend school regularly and punctually. Regular attendance equates to better progress, both socially and academically.
Please see our policies page for our full attendance policy which sets out expectations regarding school attendance.
Reporting absence
If your child is absent from school, please inform the school office on the morning of the absence, ideally before school starts and certainly by 9.00am. You can notify us of your child's absence using Studybugs, or you can leave a message on our answerphone at any time. Registers are checked each morning and you will be contacted if we do not know why your child is absent.
Studybugs
You can download the app and use this to contact us in the event of your child being absent from school. This system is primarily aimed at reporting absences due to illness, however, it can also be used to let us know if your child has an appointment i.e. your child will be coming into school late as they are going to their GP.
Medical appointments
Every effort should be made to arrange medical appointments outside school hours. If it is necessary for your child to be out of school for this reason, your child should be returned to school directly after the appointment. If the appointment is in the middle of the day they should come to school in the morning and be collected just before the appointment time and then return to school after the appointment.
Holidays in term time
The school will not authorise holidays or family visits during term time; you should plan these for non-schools days only.
If you take your child out of school for a holiday, you are acknowledging that this will be treated as unauthorised absence and that a legal sanction may be imposed. You will need to complete an absence notification form to inform us in advance.
Authorised absence for exceptional circumstances
The Headteacher can only authorise absences, other than for illness, in exceptional circumstances. You will need to complete an absence notification form to make a request for authorised absence for exceptional circumstances. Permission will not be granted retrospectively. The decision of the Headteacher to authorise or not authorise an absence is final.