Lateness / Absence
Both of these are damaging to a child's education and need to be avoided where at all possible. To reward excellent attendance and good punctuality, children will receive a certificate each term for 100% attendance and a chance to win a bicycle for 100% attendance for a full academic year.
Registration and Punctuality
- All children should be in line and ready to enter their classroom by 8.50am. Classroom doors close at 8.55am. Electronic registration is used in all year groups and taken twice per day at 8.55am and 1.05pm. A school day counts as 2 marks of attendance.
- Morning registration ends at 9.00am if a pupil arrives after this time he/she should be accompanied by the parent to the late desk in the main reception. They will be given a late slip to give to the teacher upon arrival in class. Any pupil arriving after 9.30am will become an unauthorised absence and marked as an absentee for the whole of the morning session.
- It is essential that children arriving and leaving school with a parent/guardian outside the normal school hours are signed in or out from the office. The signing in/out register in the office is used in the case of an emergency or a fire drill.
- Please note the school day ends at 3.20pm, please be prompt when collecting your children from school.
- The Educational Welfare Officer visits the school regularly to check the registers and will follow up any regular or long-term absences. They also hold intermittent late desks and are also interested in children who are picked up late at the end of the school day or after clubs.
Illness and Medical Appointments
Every effort should be made to arrange medical appointments outside of school hours. However we are aware that appointments during school time are sometimes unavoidable. If it is necessary for a child to be out of school for this reason, the child should be returned to school directly after the appointment.
Following an episode of vomiting or diarrhoea pupils are requested to remain away from school for a period of 48 hrs. This is in line with guidance from the Health Protection Agency for schools and childcare settings and helps to reduce the spread of infection between pupils.
Absence
An unauthorised absence is where there has been no communication by the parent/ carer as to why the child is absent or there is not a legitimate reason to miss school.
- Parents/carers are requested to telephone on the first day of absence before 9.30am or as early as possible. Call the school on 01322 431 404 and press option 1 to report the child’s absence, giving your child’s name, class and reason for absence and then each morning, if appropriate, for the duration of the absence. The line is available 24 hours a day.
- The schools attendance officer will endeavour to contact the parent/carer if no message has been received regarding the reason for the pupil absence.
- After any absence, on return to school your child must provide a note from the parents/carers indicating the reasons for absence. This will be placed in the register.