Attendance and Holidays

MORNING PUNCTUALITY

Playground gates open at 8:35am and school officially starts at 8:45am.

Children are late if they arrive after 8:55am but may have already missed an entire activity in the first 10 minutes.

If they arrive after the gate has been shut, your child needs to enter school through the main entrance with you, where you will be asked to sign them in at the office and provide a reason for their lateness.

If they arrive after 9:25am, they will receive an ‘unauthorised’ mark in the register for the morning session. Ten unauthorised absences can lead to the Local Authority issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice, which is currently £80 per child, per adult.

It is vital that families get into a punctual routine as soon as possible in a child’s education, as every minute counts.

AFTER SCHOOL PUNCTUALITY

Please note, school finishes at 3:15pm. At this time, we will dismiss the children as quickly and safely as we can back into your care.

If you are going to be late to collect your child(ren), please book them into After-School Club in advance and let your child know that this is the plan. Please book club via the main office. In order to do this, you will need to have funds on your ParentPay account. The options are as follows:
Collection by 4:15pm - £4
Collection by 5:15pm - £8
Collection by 6pm - £12
We close at 6pm. Please respect our staff and ensure you have collected your child by this time. If a child is collected after this time, there will be a fine of £1 per 1 minute.
If you get into debt with club, you will no longer be able to access this facility.

ATTENDANCE EXPECTATIONS

The Government expects children to have at least 96% attendance at school. Any child who falls below 90% (authorised or unauthorised) becomes a ‘persistent absentee’ and will fall under our remit to begin supportive help or family intervention work to resolve this issue. As of September 2022, the Government have outlined new measures that schools, Local Authorities and Social Services must take to address poor attendance. Pupils with attendance below 80% should expect intervention from these partner agencies.

NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR PENALTY NOTICES FOR SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 

A new National Framework for Penalty Notices for School Absence came into effect from the 19^th August 2024.  

The National Framework includes:

• A single consistent national threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered of 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period. The three-year period begins from the date of the first penalty notice issued on or after 19 August 2024.
• Unauthorised absence sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one week) or sporadic (e.g. 6 sessions of unauthorised absence in 1 week and 1 per week for the next 4 weeks). The 10 school week period may span different terms or school years.
• The option of using a ‘Notice to Improve’ where support is appropriate to provide a final opportunity to engage with support to prevent a penalty notice being issued.
• The first penalty notice issued to the parent for that pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days reducing to £80 if paid within 21 days. (this is less than an inflationary rise since 2013)
• Where it is deemed appropriate to issue a second penalty notice to the same parent for the same pupil within 3 years of the first notice, the second notice is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.
• A third penalty notice must not be issued within a 3 year period. Therefore, in cases where the threshold is met for a third (or subsequent) times within those 3 years, a penalty notice cannot be issued and alternative action should be taken instead. This will often include considering prosecution, but may include other tools such as one of the other attendance legal interventions.

The penalty notice system is not a money making scheme and local authorities do not have income targets. Monies should be first used for the administration of the penalty notice system and prosecution. Any revenues collected through the system must be ring fenced for attendance and any surplus must be paid to the Secretary of State.

If you’re having trouble getting your child to go to school, the school will discuss attendance problems with you and should agree a plan with you to improve your child’s attendance.

TERM TIME HOLIDAYS

Your children attend school for 190 days out of 365. This leaves 175 days for holidays! Please book your family holidays during these 175 days of school holiday time.

The process for requesting a holiday is to complete a ‘Request for Absence’ form, which can be found on the website, or a paper copy can be requested from the office. This must be returned to school, ideally well in advance of the date of the holiday. We can then formally respond to your request, in writing.
Please also note, Year 1, Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6 sit statutory national assessments at points in the year and it is VITAL they do not miss these!

ABSENCE DUE TO ILLNESS

Unfortunately, illness happens and we understand that there will be times your child has to miss school, especially if we have an outbreak of sickness, chicken pox, etc… Schools have strict guidelines set by the NHS regarding how long children need to stay off school with different illnesses. Please check this on our website, as we may not be able to authorise some absences, if the period of absence is longer than the period recommended by the NHS.

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