Attendance

Ensuring that your child arrives in school every day, on time and ready to learn is the most important commitment that we ask of parents and carers.

We understand that children get unwell and may need to miss the occasional day off school. However, where children are consistently absent from school for a day or even a morning every week there is a proven negative effect on their achievement, their friendships and their overall wellbeing.

Where a child's attendance falls consistently below 96.6 per cent we will request that their parent/carer comes in for a meeting to talk about the importance of good attendance. We will also seek to understand any ways in which the school is able to support families to ensure that children are in school every day and on time. Where the issue cannot be resolved at schools level and attendance does not improve, it may be necessary to involve the Local Authority, who have the power to take legal action as appropriate.

Request for Leave of Absence for exceptional circumstances during Term Time 

It is not advisable to take your child/ren on a leave of absence during term time as this causes disruption to their education.  Schools must follow the law in this regard and may only grant leave in exceptional circumstances if certain criteria are fulfilled. 

School Attendance (Pupil Regulations) (England) Regulations 2024 

• Leave of Absence in exceptional circumstances is authorised at the discretion of the Head teacher. (This is not an automatic right of parents/guardians)
• You should not normally take your child(ren) on a leave of absence during the school term.
• Please do not book your leave of absence until authority is given.
• Each request for leave of absence will be considered individually, taking into account the circumstances of the request and any supporting evidence provided.
• If the absence is approved by the Head Teacher you will be advised as to how many days the Head teacher has approved for your child’s absence.
• If the school does not agree the absence and you take the leave without permission or your child is absent for more than the agreed number of days the absence will be unauthorised.
• Leave of absence taken without the authorisation of the school may lead to your child(ren) being referred to the Education Welfare Service and the possibility of statutory action and a fine/prosecution

If you do need to request time out of school please complete the following form - Request for term time leave form

The purpose of this form is for parents to inform the school of a planned future absence that involves their child missing term time education. Once completed the school will respond to you confirming the receipt of the request and to state if the absence is authorised or unauthorised. 

More information can be found here https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence and if you have any questions please contact the office.