“Pupils need to attend school regularly to benefit from their education. Missing out on lessons leaves children vulnerable to falling behind. Children with poor attendance tend to achieve less in both primary and secondary school."
Regular attendance at school is essential to ensure uninterrupted progress and to enable your child to extend their potential. We expect all children on roll to attend every day, when the school is in session, as long as they are fit and healthy enough to do so. We believe that the most important factor in promoting good attendance is the development of positive attitudes towards school and learning.
Poor attendance can seriously affect your child’s:
- attainment in school
- relationships with other children and their ability to form lasting friendships
- confidence to attempt new work and work alongside others
Parental Responsibility
Parents have a legal duty to ensure that their child attends school regularly and arrives on time. Full attendance is essential to the all-round development of a child and they should be allowed to take full advantage of educational opportunities available to them by law. Poor attendance undermines their education and sometimes, puts pupils at risk. Regular attendance monitoring is undertaken by the attendance team, who may contact parents where there are concerns about the child's school attendance.
1. When does my child need to be in School?
Your child should be at school in good time for registration. The morning register will be called promptly at 8.55am and the afternoon register at 1.30pm.
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2. What happens if my child is late?
Registration finishes at 9.05am in the morning and 1.35pm in the afternoon.
If your child arrives between 8.55am and 9.05am he/she will be marked late.
If your child arrives after 9.05am he/she will be marked absent.
If your child arrives between 1.30 and 1.35pm he/she will be marked late.
If your child arrives after 1.35pm he/she will be marked absent.
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3. Does the School need letters explaining my child’s absence or will a phone call do?
We would expect a parent to call or email the school before 9.30am to inform us of the absence, and the reason for this. If you do not contact us, we will phone you. If we do not receive an explanation, or if the explanation is unsatisfactory, we will not authorise the absence, and this will be shown on your child’s end of year report.
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4. What reasons will the school accept for absences?
• Illness
• Emergency dental / medical appointment (please make routine appointments after school or during the holidays) - we may ask for evidence of a medical appointment to authorise these absences
• Day of religious observance
• Family bereavement
Except in the case of illness, you should ask for permission for your child to miss school well in advance, giving full details. In cases of recurring absences through illness you may be asked to produce a medical certificate.
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5. What is unacceptable?
The school will not authorise absence for holidays, visiting relatives, shopping, birthdays or looking after brothers or sisters, etc.
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6. What can I do to encourage my child to attend School?
Make sure your child gets enough sleep and gets up in plenty of time each morning. Ensure that he / she leaves home in the correct clothes and properly equipped. Show your child, by your interest, that you value his / her education.
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9. My child is trying to avoid coming to School. What should I do?
Contact your child’s class teacher immediately and openly discuss your worries. Your child could be avoiding school for a number of reasons – difficulties with school work, bullying, friendship problems, family difficulties. It is important that we identify the reason for your child’s reluctance to attend school and work together to tackle the problem.
In some cases you may find it helpful to discuss the circumstances with our Family Support Worker, who may refer you to other agencies for further support.