Attendance and Punctuality
Good attendance and punctuality are essential to the progress of each child and parents are encouraged to ensure that their children do not stay away from school without good reason. The Governing Body strongly discourages any pupils taking leave of absence during school term time.
From September 2013 Head Teachers are no longer able to authorise absences for holidays. If you choose to take your children out of school for a holiday without exceptional circumstances you will be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice fine. This is £80 per parent per child. A family of 2 children with two parents in the home would be charged £320.00. If the fine is not paid it increases to £160 per parent per child, therefore in the above example the fine would increase to £640. The fines are issued by the Local Authority Education Welfare Service. Examples of exceptional circumstances are very few e.g. A family with the armed services where a parent is about to go on a tour of duty, the wedding of a parent – where the absence will be one day. Religious Observance. Family Funeral.
All children should arrive on time for school. It is understood that in exceptional circumstances this may be difficult. However any persistent lateness will be followed up by our Learning Mentor, Mrs Ellis and Headteacher. If lateness does not improve then support from social services may be requested. Fixed Penalty Notices can also be issued to families whose children have a number of unexplained or unauthorised absences. This results in a fine of £80 per parent per child. Wherever possible, dentist and doctors appointments should be made for after school.
All classes now have targets which they must reach on a weekly basis to reduce lateness and increase attendance within class.