Attendance

Our school aims to meet its obligations with regards to school attendance by:

• Promoting good attendance and reducing absence, including persistent absence
• Ensuring every pupil has access to full-time education to which they are entitled
• Acting early to address patterns of absence

We will also support parents to perform their legal duty to ensure their children of compulsory school age attend regularly and will promote and support punctuality in attending lessons.

Regular attendance at school is vital. Put simply, absence means missed learning; without it the learning process becomes fragmented and unsatisfactory. Hugglescote Community Primary School wants each and every child to have the best possible attendance at school to enable them to reach their full potential. There is a strong link between good school attendance and achieving good results for children. Children who frequently miss school may fall behind in their work which may affect their future prospects. Absence may also have an effect on friendships. Young people who are frequently absent from school are more likely to become involved in or be a victim of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Current law does not give any entitlement to parents to remove their child from school during term time for the purpose of a holiday. Head teachers may only grant leave of absence where an application has been made in advance and are considered exceptional circumstances relating to the application. The school upholds these regulations and supports the use of financial penalties and court action where necessary. Missing a day of school to ‘have a day out’ is not acceptable and all parents/carers have a legal responsibility to ensure their child/ren attend school when they are deemed ‘fit’ to do so.

Parents must notify the school on the first day of an unplanned absence – for example, if their child is unable to attend due to ill health – by 9:00am or as soon as practically possible.

Parents are required to phone the school office or report the absence via Weduc to inform of any unplanned absence.

Absence due to illness will be authorised unless the school has a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness. Minor ailments such as a headache, slight cold are not acceptable reasons for failing to attend school. Repeated absences may require the school to request that you obtain medical evidence from your doctor’s surgery or local pharmacy as recommended by the government.

If the authenticity of the illness is in doubt, the school may ask parents to provide medical evidence, such as a doctor’s note, prescription, appointment card or other appropriate form of evidence. We will not ask for medical evidence unnecessarily.

If the school is not satisfied about the authenticity of the illness, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised, and parents will be notified of this in advance.

Where possible appointments should be made outside of the school hours. Proof of appointments will be required for any child taken out of school. We do not expect a child to miss a whole day of school to attend an appointment which would either be a morning or afternoon.

There is clear evidence that shows an impact on your child’s education and exam results if attendance is not consistently at 96% and above throughout their schooling. Please see the following table to explain how many days the percentages equate to:

All children are expected to be in school for the right time every day without exception. In unforeseen circumstances, which are outside of your control, where your child may be late e.g. car broken down you should call the school office and inform a member of staff. As with all attendance we monitor very closely any children who arrive late.