Attendance & School Opening Hours
School opens at 8.40am - registration is at 8.50am: all pupils are expected to be in classrooms by this time.
School closes at 3.20pm – parents are expected to collect pupils on time from their year group designated doors.
Pupils are in school for 6 hours and 30 minutes each day. This is 32.5 hours each week.
Our agreed school policy is that no pupil from Nursery to Year 4 should walk to or from school on their own or be left on their own on the school premises either before or after school. Children must be accompanied to their classroom/cloakroom door by an adult and passed to the school staff on the door. At the end of the school day, we will only hand over pupils to named adults or older siblings provided they are 16 years old or above. We will not allow older brothers or sisters in school to collect younger siblings.
Absence due to illness or unplanned absence – as soon as you know your child is ill you must ring the school office before 9am and leave a message on our dedicated pupil absence line so that we can enter this into our electronic attendance register. You should ring every day your child is absent, if we do not hear from you we will contact you first by text message and then by phone if necessary. The school may ask parents to provide medical evidence, such as a doctor’s note, prescription, appointment card or another appropriate form. Absence due to illness will be authorised unless the school has a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness. If the school is not satisfied about the authenticity of the illness, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and parents will be notified of this in advance. The Headteacher and designated safeguarding leads monitor absence and late records every day.
Valid reasons for authorised absence include:
Illness and medical/dental appointments
Religious observance – where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s parents belong. If necessary, the school will seek advice from the parents’ religious body to confirm whether the day is set apart
Traveller pupils travelling for occupational purposes – this covers Roma, English and Welsh Gypsies, Irish and Scottish Travellers, Showmen (fairground people) and Circus people, Bargees (occupational boat dwellers) and New Travellers. Absence may be authorised only when a Traveller family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision
Medical or dental appointments – Missing registration for a medical or dental appointment is counted as an authorised absence; advance notice is required for authorising these absences. However, we encourage parents to make medical and dental appointments out of school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, the pupil should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary.
Following up absence – the school will follow up any absences to ascertain the reason, ensure proper safeguarding action is taken where necessary, identify whether the absence is approved or not and identify the correct attendance code to use. If a pupil is not registered and a reason for absence has not been provided the school will make every effort to contact you regarding your child’s absence. If we do not hear from you then safeguarding visits will be made to the home address and the police may be contacted to conduct a safe and well check on the school’s behalf.
Leave of Absence in term time – headteachers may not grant any leave of absence to pupils during term time unless they consider there to be ‘exceptional circumstances’. The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant context behind the request. A leave of absence is granted entirely at the headteacher’s discretion.
Application for Leave of Absence – September 2024 Parents are advised to apply for leave of absence before they confirm their holiday arrangements. The form should be sent to school marked for the attention of Mr Dathan, Leave of Absence Request form.
Parents will be informed, in writing, of the outcome of their application for leave of absence.
Legal sanctions – schools can fine parents for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age. If issued with a penalty notice, parents must pay £60 within 21 days or £120 within 28 days. The payment must be made directly to the local authority. The decision on whether or not to issue a penalty notice ultimately rests with the headteacher, following the local authority’s code of conduct for issuing penalty notices.
Pupils in Lower KS2 (Years 3 and 4)
Although there is no set age when children are ready to walk to school or home on their own. We strongly recommend that pupils in Year 3 and 4 are still brought to and collected from school.
On arrival, Year 3 and 4 must be accompanied by an adult to the blue double gates at the top of their playground and remain with them until the playground is supervised by school staff at 8.40am when the doors open. At 3.20pm children should be collected from their classroom/playground doors.
Pupils in Upper KS2 (Years 5 and 6)
In deciding whether your child is ready to walk to school you should assess any risks associated with the route and your child’s confidence.
Work with your children to build up their independence while walking to school through route finding, road safety skills and general awareness. There are lots of ways you can prepare your child to make an independent journey. The best way to do this is to walk with your children from a young age, teaching them about crossing the road, learning how to navigate and a host of other skills. This helps them gain the experience and confidence to deal with traffic and ‘way finding’ on their own, in preparation for walking with friends or alone when they are older.
Late Arrivals after 8.50am
Doors open at 8.40am and close at 8.50pm when it is expected all pupils are in school.
A pupil who arrives after this time may be marked as late if registers have closed, using the appropriate code. Late arrivals must report to the school office accompanied by an adult to sign them into school and to have their mark added to the register.
Late arrivals must report to the school office accompanied by an adult* to sign them into school and to have their mark added to the register.
*If this is not possible then you should contact the school office by telephone so that we know to expect your child in school.
We all run late sometimes. For your child, arriving late to school occasionally won’t cause major disruption. Inevitably, children will feel sick or tired some mornings, or other situations will prevent them from being on time. One of the most important aspects of school for your child is that school is organised so that they know where they have to be and when. When children are repeatedly late, these routines are disrupted. Children who are often late have trouble settling in and mastering routines. Being late can throw off their whole morning or even their day, especially if the late commute to school was stressful.
Attendance
We aim to ensure that all children attend school regularly and on time to enable them to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available.
Parents have a legal duty under the Education Act 1996 (section 444) to make sure that children of compulsory school age attend school on a regular and full time basis.
All children, regardless of their circumstances, are entitled to a full time education which is suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. We will support parents to perform their legal duty to ensure their children of compulsory school age attend regularly, and will promote and support punctuality in attending lessons.
