Attendance
Evidence shows that every school day matters in a young person’s education. Students who have good attendance at school have better wellbeing and achieve better results than those who don’t. Our aim for good attendance is 96%. We monitor your child’s attendance regularly to look for any patterns in absence and we may ask you to come into school to discuss how we can support your child to attend more regularly. Through the Arbor app, our management system, you will have access to your child’s attendance on a daily basis.
Illness
We do recognise that your child may become ill and all we ask if that you keep us informed. If your child is ill, we would expect you to phone school on 01433 620473 to inform us of this on the first day, and then every subsequent day of absence before 9.15am. Obviously, for some illnesses there are specific quarantining periods which need to be adhered to. If your child’s attendance drops into persistent absence (below 90%) due to periods of illness, we will ask you to come into school to discuss how we can support you as there are services that can be applied for to support your child in their recovery. We will also happily administer any medication your child needs. Please contact school as there is a short form to complete to ensure we know how and when to administer the medication.
Requests for term time leave
Requests for term time leave will only be considered in exceptional circumstances. Taking a young person out of school for a family holiday will be marked as unauthorised absence and headteachers are required to consider issuing a penalty notice (fine) to parents.
Headteachers are also required to consider issuing a penalty notice (fine) to parents where there have been 10 sessions (totalling 5 school days) over a 10-school week period. The absences may or may not be on consecutive days.
How much are the fines for unauthorised absence during term time?
From August 2024, as part of the government’s national framework for penalty notices, fines issued will be:
- First instance of unauthorised absence:
- £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days.
- £160 per parent, per child if paid within 28 days.
- Second instance of unauthorised absence (within a three-year period):
- £160 per parent, per child if paid within 28 days.
- Third and subsequent instances of unauthorised absence (within a three-year period):
- Other action such as prosecution will be considered. In this circumstance, fines can be up to £2,500 per parent, per child.
Money raised by the local authority from fines is used by that local authority to cover their costs and to fund attendance support. Any remaining money is returned to the government.
Please complete the following form and return it to school 4 weeks before any planned absence in term time. This enables us to process the application.
For further information about attendance, please see our attendance policy, which is available on our policies page.