The School Day

Statistics show that children who attend school regularly make more progress and achieve better than those who do not. Every lesson is important, and it can be difficult for children to catch up if they miss too much of their learning. However, it is highly likely that a child will be unable to attend school at some point, usually due to illness. If this happens, please note the following, when your child is ill, you should contact us by telephone, email or note at the earliest opportunity to inform us of the reason for your child being absent. We will then know that your child is absent for a valid reason.

* If we have not heard from you by 9:30 am on the first day of absence, we will text you to alert you to the fact that your child is missing from school.

Absence Requests

The Absence Request form is available from the school office (or you can print a copy from the letters page of our news & dates section of the website) and should be completed by parents/carers when requesting term time absence from school for their child, regardless of whether the absence is for a holiday, or any other reason. Also, all requests for absence should be evidenced based, e.g. medical appointment cards, letters from employers etc.

The Local Authority, through the school's Educational Welfare Officer, also regularly checks the attendance of all children at school and will investigate cases of absence when a child is away for more than an average of one day a fortnight, whether the absence is authorised or not.

Term Time Holiday Requests

The Government changed their policy regarding school attendance and new legal regulations came into force from September 2013. This means that holidays from school in term time have been removed from the regulations and therefore Headteachers are no longer allowed to authorise absence from school unless it is due to exceptional circumstances. Schools have received specific guidance from the Department for Education which lists reasons that are or are not acceptable.