Parents of children of compulsory school age (i.e. the term following their 5th birthday), have a legal responsibility to ensure that they attend school regularly and punctually. Our expectation is that all reception children will attend full-time i.e. from 9.00 am until 3.05 pm (KS1) or 3.10 pm (KS2) from the start of the academic year.
There is a legal requirement also for the school to account for all absences. If your child is absent, we need to know why so we ask you to telephone or contact us before 9.10 am on the first day of absence, unless leave has been requested in advance.
If we do not hear from you we will contact to ask for the reason for absence. The Department for Education is specific on the subject of absences, which are either authorised or unauthorised by the school.
Reasons for authorised absence are:
- religious observance,
- medical appointments (with verification, if necessary),
- any absence that is unavoidable can be authorised by the school.
For an absence to be authorised the school has to be satisfied with the parents’ explanation. Except for illness and medical / dental appointments, all absences need to be requested from the school. Children, who need to leave school for medical appointments and return later, need to be recorded at the office on exit and entry. Please contact us to obtain a copy of our absence request form or download the form here;
At the end of the year the total absences, authorised and unauthorised, will be shown on your child’s report.
It is particularly important that all children attend school regularly for the first seven weeks of the summer term. During this time the progress of the children is assessed using standardised assessment tasks and tests. Assessing a class of 30 children on a wide range of skills and knowledge is a very complex task. We timetable the tests very carefully so that children are not over tired and can do their best work. Whenever possible, children work on the tests or tasks in small groups. If a child is absent during the assessment period the tests still have to be carried out at a later time.
A directive from central government states that schools are not allowed to authorise absence for holidays during term time. Therefore a child’s absence from school for a family holiday will be unauthorised. We hope you will endeavor to keep any planned absences for your child within the school holidays.
It is particularly important that all children attend school regularly for the first seven weeks of the summer term. During this time the progress of the children is assessed using standardised assessment tasks and tests. Assessing a class of 30 children on a wide range of skills and knowledge is a very complex task. We timetable the tests very carefully so that children are not over tired and can do their best work. Whenever possible, children work on the tests or tasks in small groups. If a child is absent during the assessment period the tests still have to be carried out at a later time.
A directive from central government states that schools are not allowed to authorise absence for holidays during term time. Therefore a child’s absence from school for a family holiday will be unauthorised. We hope you will endeavor to keep any planned absences for your child within the school holidays.