Attendance & Punctuality

Attendance

We have an expectation that all children will attend School 100% of the time. However, we understand that, on occasions, children will become ill or need to attend a medical appointment. It is important that if your child cannot attend School, direct contact is made with the School office first thing on the first day of absence. If contact is not made the School will make direct contact with parents/carers. If direct contact cannot be made, the matter may be referred to the Education Welfare Office. This is to ensure that all children, absent from School, are accounted for and safe. To help with this parents are advised to enter the school’s telephone number (01534 731306) into their phone so that it can be found easily. As the mornings can be extremely busy in school we have a telephone system which allows you to leave a message to report your child absent.

Medical Appointments

Please The Main Office should be informed of medical appointments and times in advance (copies of letters will be viewed by the school office) so that children can be registered correctly and they are prepared to leave school on time for their appointment. When an appointment is for the start of the school day and your child will not be in for registration it is important that you have let the Main Office know so that we are not actively looking for your child. If we are unsure as to the whereabouts of your child the School will have to contact you.

Punctuality

We have an expectation that all children will attend School on time every day. This is monitored by the class teachers, Main Office and the Education Welfare Office. We understand that, on occasions, circumstances cause a child to be late. However, this should be a rare occurrence.

Where there is a growing concern regarding punctuality your child’s class teacher will contact you in the first instance. Where improvement has not been made the matter will be taken up by the School and Education Welfare Office.

The emotional impact on a child turning up late for school is significant and can affect their ability to learn and to access activities throughout the day. The main doors to the School are open from 8.30am, registration is at 8.45am and after this time your child will be marked at “Late”.

It is essential that children who are being collected from School are collected at the end of the day on time. On the rare occasions when an adult may be faced with an unforeseen delay in collecting their child it is important that contact is made with the School before 3pm.

Where these situations become regular occurrences the School will seek to work with the parent/carer to ensure that punctual collection happens. In persistent situations the School will have no choice but to involve the Education Welfare Office and Social Services.

Please see this link for more information.