Attendance

Attendance matters. Common sense tells us that the more a child is in school, the more they have capacity to learn. Inevitably, children will be ill, and on those days, of course, it is entirely appropriate that they stay at home to be looked after by a parent/carer. Appointments for doctors or dentists that fall in school time must be kept to a minimum- local GP's and healthcare professionals work very closely with schools in this respect.

 For any other absence, for weddings, holidays, family events- please be aware that unless I deem it to be a truly one off, exceptional circumstance, then it will be unauthorised which may result in a fine.  Can we also respectfully ask that you are honest about reasons for absence- your children will inevitably tell us why they really have been off and we aim to encourage honesty as a key learning skill for them .

 Parents/carers are requested to phone the office on 01305 783876 and leave a message before 9am if their child is going to be absent/late. The reason for absence must be in full. Please do not leave vague messages i.e. unwell, ill or under the weather as the school office will have to call you back for more information. Office staff check all class registers between 8.40 and 9am on a daily basis, to identify those pupils who are absent. Where a child is absent from school and we have not received any verbal or written communication from the parent, we initiate the first day contact procedures. If no message is left with the school office, we will telephone in turn each of the contacts on the list provided by the parents. If we are still unable to get confirmation as to why the child is not in school, we will progress to a  welfare check (this is a visit to the home address). This is normally carried out by the senior staff from the school . If we are still unable to confirm the child’s welfare we will call 101 to report the child as missing. This is the school’s duty of care and safeguarding for your child.)