Absence Request
Regular attendance at school is essential for your child to achieve success at school. There is a clear link between poor attendance and low achievement. Every lesson really does count.
School starts at 8.50am with registration at 9.00am. Parents should advise the school office of an absence by 9.20am. If there has not been notification by that time, the school office will ring parents for the reason at close of registers. Failure to provide a valid reason for absence will result in your child having an unauthorised absence mark on their attendance record.
Fixed Penalty notices (fines) may be issued to parents/carers when there is unauthorised absence from school. Unauthorised absence is absence without permission from the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences. It also includes repeated late arrivals at school with no explanation. For further information about the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices please read the attached leaflet.
Good regular attendance not only improves achievement, it helps cement friendship groups, and promotes better overall behaviour in school. Catching up even a small amount of school time can be difficult, often leading to anxiety and behaviour issues. Persistent lateness can have a similar effect, your child may miss the input to the start of a lesson, or be embarrassed coming into class alone. Lateness also disturbs the concentration/attention of the whole class.
We appreciate that in some circumstances absence is unavoidable, but are keen to discourage unnecessary absence i.e. Non-urgent appointments that could possibly be made out of school hours.