The Importance of High Attendance

We recognise the strong link between attainment and attendance and parents play a really important role in ensuring that attendance is as high as possible. Pupils are expected to achieve 96% attendance although we recognise there may be extenuating circumstances (such as with illness) but these should be infrequent.

As an example of the effect of regular absence, consider that 90% attendance is an average of one day out of school per fortnight over a whole school year.

It is your legal responsibility to ensure your child's regular attendance. We work with all our families to support good attendance, and will schedule meetings when attendance falls below thresholds or if we notice particular patterns in attendance. These meetings will be to agree steps to positively impact your child's attendance.

Illness

Parents or carers should ring the office or send an email on the first day of their child's absence (and every day thereafter if it is unclear when the return date will be).

The Health Protection Agency advises that if a child has vomiting or diarrhoea, then they will be unable to return to school until 48 hours have elapsed to minimise the spread of infection.

We can only administer prescribed medication such as antibiotics and only if a consent form has been correctly filled in and signed.

Leave of absence requests, authorised and unauthorised absence

If you have a planned absence, please fill in the form below and return to the school office. The headteacher will use the school absence policy to deem whether an absence is authorised or not.

Absences for medical appointments and illness will normally be authorised.

Typically, all other absences will be unauthorised unless previously agreed by the headteacher. In some cases, there will be exceptional circumstances where absence will be authorised, such as family emergencies.