Attendance

Our attendance target for 2024 - 2025 is 93%

Learning starts at 8.40am every morning and children should be in their morning roll call location and ready to learn at this time. This is when the uniform is checked and key messages are delivered to the pupils.

We promote excellent school attendance, recognising the clear links between attendance and progress and safeguarding. Our aim is for all children on roll to attend school every day. This will give them access to excellent teaching and learning.

Parents / carers are asked to only withdraw their child from school if it is absolutely unavoidable.

If you know that your child is going to be absent from school for any period of time (even if it is part of a day) please seek the Headteacher's authorisation in advance, by completing the exceptional leave request form that can be found at the bottom of this page. The Government and the school wish to discourage children from missing lessons whenever possible and ask parents to take family holidays during school holidays.

We would expect all medical and dental appointments to take place outside of school hours. If a child does need to be taken out of school to attend such appointments, please inform the school of their appointments and the times they will be absent from school. The maximum length of time authorised for a medical appointment is two hours.

If your child is late for school and misses’ registration, they must sign in at the gate before 9.05 am and at the school reception after 9.05 am.

We target intervention for children whose attendance falls below a target of 95%. If your child does not attend school, they will struggle to make progress and achieve. We want all children to have excellent attendance and give themselves the very best chance of attaining high grades, which will help with their choices later in life.

Penalty notices

We can send you a penalty notice warning letter if:

• you take your child out of school during term time (for holidays for example) without agreeing the leave with the school
• your child is delayed returning from a period of leave and you have not agreed this with the school
• your child has three days of unauthorised absence over a thirty-day period
• your child arrives at school after the registers have closed on three or more occasions over a thirty-day period
• your child is excluded from school but is seen in a public place during the first five days of that exclusion.

If a penalty notice warning letter is issued, your child has fifteen days to improve their attendance. Failure to improve will result in a £60 fine per parent per child if you pay within 21 days of receiving the fine. If you do not pay the fine within 21 days but pay it within 28 days, the cost will rise to £120 per parent per child. If you do not pay at all, we may take legal action.