Attendance is based on a child being at school in time for the morning register as well as the afternoon register so being marked present for 2 sessions a day.

Both these sessions count towards their overall attendance figure which is simply a percentage of how many sessions your child has been present throughout the current academic year.

The only reasons a child will be marked as present when they are not in school are if they are being educated at a different location, or at a school event such as residential or sporting.

There are a variety of different reasons that a child may be absent from school and the school will assign an appropriate code on the register to make staff aware of the reason.

Absence from school can be authorised for the following reasons:

Medical appointments

Illness where the school has been notified by phone or in writing

Religious observance

NOTE: An authorised absence is still recorded as the child not being in school and will have a negative effect on their attendance figure.

​Absence from school will be unauthorised in all other circumstances unless deemed to be ‘exceptional’ by the Headteacher. This does not apply to term-time holidays, which will always be unauthorised.

Please see the information below, from the Local Authority, regarding unauthorised term time leave.

Term-Time Leave Parents do not have the right or entitlement to take their child out of school for a term-time holiday. Recent government guidelines have removed the discretion for head teachers agreeing to term-time leave. Any requests for leave of absence need to be submitted before the leave is taken. Parents must complete a Term-Time Leave Request Form and provide any supporting evidence, if applicable, with their request. This also applies to parents requesting to take their child out of school during the school day. If the school suspect term-time leave has been taken but the parents/carers have not completed a Term-Time Leave Request Form, we will write to the parents/carers giving them an opportunity to clarify the reason for absence and provide supporting evidence. Failure to respond to or provide supporting evidence will result in a referral to the Local Authority for unauthorised leave from school. Exceptional circumstances (definition of exceptional: rare, unavoidable, short) will be considered on an individual basis.

Examples of requests for leave of absence that do not meet the criteria of an exceptional circumstance and will not be authorised and could be subject to a Penalty Notice fine/prosecution for pupils of statutory school age are: 

• Cheaper holidays/flights in the UK or abroad.

 • Holidays that overlap the beginning or the end of term. 

• Trip of a lifetime. 

• Visiting family or friends who have different half term holiday dates. 

• Family weddings for more than 1 day or visits to see family abroad. 

• Relatives coming to visit.

 • Extension of leave if a pupil has not returned to school after an agreed absence if it does not meet grounds for an exceptional circumstance.

 • Leave taken due to potential travel disruption. 

Penalty Notices

If a pupil takes unauthorised term-time leave for 10 consecutive sessions or more (generally 5 days) they will be subject to a Penalty Notice. The fine for a penalty notice is £80 per child, per parent/carer, increasing to £160 if not paid after 21 days but within 28 days for pupils who are of statutory school age. If a penalty notice remains unpaid, parents may be the subject of court proceedings for failing to ensure the regular school attendance of their child and this could result in a fine of up to £2,500 and/or a term of imprisonment of up to 3 months per parent. For second offences of unauthorised term-time leave (10 consecutive sessions or more) within a three-year rolling period, the fine is a flat £160 per parent, per child. For the third offence in a three year rolling period, the referral will be automatically considered for prosecution in relation to Section 444 Education Act 1996. 

Children’s learning in school is based on a build up of skills and knowledge.

This build up is continually planned by teachers on a day to day basis. Children that miss one session could miss out on a potentially important session and although every effort is made to catch children up when they return, this is usually not as effective and takes time away from the rest of the class.

If children miss out on a number of sessions this can significantly affect their overall progress.

Children that are away from school on a regular basis can miss out on opportunities to build strong friendships and can sometimes find it harder to build strong friendships within school

We have a range of strategies in place that are aimed at improving attendance:

A weekly attendance award (whole class).

Termly and annual attendance certificates.

We work with individual families supporting them where attendance is an issue, offering for example support from our Family Support Worker.

The attendance of every pupil is monitored on a monthly basis and we liaise closely with the Education Welfare Officer (EWO), involving them when attendance falls below acceptable levels.