Attendance

It is very important that your child attends school regularly and arrives on time. Research shows that pupils who attend school less that 80% of the time are half as likely to achieve the expected standard in their education. Being late frequently is a concern as children often miss the start of lessons - over time this builds up. Having good attendance and being punctual will give your child a great start in their education. An unauthorised absence from school is an offence under s444 of the Education Act 1996.

If you require support getting yourself or your child organised on a morning and ready to attend school, we can help! We can and have also supported pupils who experience anxiety about attending school. Please contact Vicky Baxter or Gail Worrall through the school office to arrange a chat and to see if together we can come up with a solution to help your child attend regularly and get the full benefit of a great education.

We regularly monitor absences and will contact you if your child's attendance is causing concern. There is a new national threshold of 10 unauthorised sessions for any reason (equivalent to 5 school days) within a rolling 10 school week period for when a penalty notice must be considered. This means children will not ba able to leave school for one week's holiday without a penalty being issued. Fines have currently increased from £60 to £80 if paid within 21 days.

An unauthorised absence includes term time holidays, truancy, arriving late after the register has closed (unless you have informed school that your child has an appointment) without a legitimate reason and failing to provide school with a reason for an absence.

Information about penalty notices and new guidance from August 24

Request f or term time absence should be submitted at least 20 days in advance and can be found here.