Attendance

Our current attendance target is 96.5%. Your child’s attendance will fall below this target if they miss more than seven days learning over the academic year.

Absence

Any absences must be reported as soon as possible, preferably before 8:40am. You can report an absence by calling the office on 01865 433000. Please give the reason for your child’s absence.

If your child is absent and we have not heard from you we will contact you by phone or make a home visit.

If your child is still unable to return to school on the expected date of return, you must contact the school again to advise us of the reason for your child’s absence.

Medical appointments

Any doctor, dentist or opticians appointments should be made outside of school hours.

Your child can be in school before and after any appointments.

Planned absences in term time

Absences during term time will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Any holidays taken in term time will NOT be authorised.

We monitor each child’s attendance closely. If your child’s absences are due to unauthorised or declined holiday each parent/carer can be issued with a penalty notice for £60.

Persistent absence

Department of Education guidelines say that any child with an attendance below 90% will be recorded as a persistent absentee. DfE (Department for Education) guidance states; ‘Missing out on lessons leaves children vulnerable to falling behind.  Children with poor attendance tend to achieve less in both primary and secondary school’. (DfE, July 2019). This means that persistent absence can put your child at risk of serious disadvantage in their learning and social development.

If your child’s attendance falls below 90% we will work with families to help improve attendance and punctuality going forward.