Attendance at school is crucial to gaining a good education.

We want your children to make the best possible progress in their education in order for them to reach their full potential. To do this, we need your help to ensure they attend regularly and punctually.

Keeping school informed of absences

We realise that illness or exceptional circumstances are occasionally unavoidable, but in this instance, the school needs to be notified as soon as possible – preferably by phone on the same day, from 8.30am. In the interest of your child’s academic and social development, absences should be kept to an absolute minimum. All holidays will be recorded as unauthorised unless they are exceptional circumstances (see Policy). All holidays in term time have to be put forward to the Local Authority where a fixed penalty fine will be issued.

Absences allowed by law: (authorised)

The law states that it is ESSENTIAL for the school to know the reasons behind every absence, because we need to distinguish between absences which are allowed (authorised) and those which are not (unauthorised). However, if your child is sick in the night, please keep them off for 48 hours.

Reluctance to attend:

Occasionally, a child may be reluctant to attend school claiming to have a tummy ache or feeling sick etc. - Please let us know if you believe this is the case, so that we can work together to resolve any problems.

School permission in advance:

Any requests should be on an official school absence request form and handed into the school office for consideration prior to any holiday/leave arrangements being made.

You may be issued with a Penalty Notice should leave be taken which is not authorised. If unpaid, this could lead to prosecution under section 444(1) of The Education Act 1996. Please note that penalty notices will apply to both parents for each child who fails to attend school.

Children need to attend school to ensure they have the best opportunity to succeed. There are 13 weeks holiday each year and therefore family holidays during term time will not be granted. Work cannot be given to take on holiday as children need to be taught in school.

Previous attendance is not taken into account when considering exceptional circumstances. It is an expectation that children are in school.

Where siblings attend other local schools, decisions will be reached with the headteachers in those schools. The decision of the headteachers is final.

Religious observance:

Absence for this will be granted, please apply to the headteacher in writing.

Persistent lateness could also result in a visit from the EWO as lateness can be construed by the LA as an absence.

Snow:

On the rare occasion that the school closes because of snow, we will inform you via email.

If you are worried about your child's attendance, please contact Mrs Wood in the first instance who will then sign post you to Mark Davey the Education Welfare Officer or the Early Help Team at QEG's

Attendance and the Law; Attendance and the law