Attendance
Introduction
Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure that their children receive full time education. Regular attendance is essential if children are to progress with their learning. The school day is divided into two registration sessions so, for example, one day of absence will be recorded as two sessions. Please read the Cambridgeshire County Council's leaflet on school attendance 'Is Your Child In School Today?'. Department for Education guidance in relation to attendance and absence can be found here.
Notification of Absence
We expect parents/carers to inform the school by 9.00am by phone, by email, or in person if their child is unwell and unable to attend school. NHS guidance for when you should/should not bring your child into school can be found here. If we have not received communication regarding your child's absence by 9.15am, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and we will endeavour to contact you to establish the reason for absence. If we have not been able to contact you, we reserve the right to send a member of staff to conduct a home visit and, in certain circumstances, we have a duty of care to call the Police to perform a 'Safe and Well check'. Our paramount concern is the safety and well-being of our children.
Other planned absences should be notified to the school via an Absence Request Form (exceptional circumstances) including time out of school for medical appointments.
Punctuality
School starts at 9.00 am for all classes. We believe that punctuality is an important social courtesy and regularly arriving late to school not only disrupts your child's opportunities for learning but those of the children in his/her class. Children arriving late must access the school via the school office where they are registered and the reason for his/her late arrival is recorded. Where the child arrives after registration has closed 9.05am, the absence will be recorded in accordance with the Regulations and they will receive a late mark that shows them to be on site, but this does count towards their attendance percentage and will count as an unauthorised absence.
Leave of Absence
Taking leave of absence without exceptional circumstances as determined by the Head Teacher, in term time will affect your child’s schooling as much as any other absence and we expect parents to help us by not taking children away in school time.
Remember that any savings you think you may make by taking a holiday in school time are offset by the cost to your child’s education.
There is no automatic entitlement in law to time off in school time to go on holiday.
All applications for leave of absence must be made in advance. In deciding about whether to authorise this leave, the school will consider the circumstances of each application individually, including any previous pattern of absence.
It is important that you understand that we will only authorise such absences in exceptional circumstances.
Any period of leave taken without the agreement of the school (with at least four weeks’ notice) and/or different from that agreed by the school, will be classed as unauthorised and may attract sanctions such as a Penalty Notice. It is our duty to send this to the Local Authority, and it is they who decide on sanctions.
If you wish to request a leave of absence for your child/ren then please complete the Absence Request Form (exceptional circumstances), available on the school website and from the school office.
If authorisation for this leave is not granted but the child is absent, or no authorisation is sought, or the period of leave is at a similar time of year to an unauthorsied absence in a previous year, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. As a result, a referral may be made to the Education Welfare Officer who may issue each parent with a Penalty Notice (fine) ranging from £60 to £120 for each parent for each child and could ultimately lead to prosecution resulting in a fine of £2,500 and a 3 month custodial sentence.
Further Information
Please click the links below for Cambridgeshire County Council's information on:
Other useful information can be found below, including absence request form.