Excellent attendance and punctuality are vital for successful development, learning, wellbeing, and social interaction.  Children with excellent attendance are shown to do better in GCSE and A level exams.  The more your child attends school, the more they learn.  Missing school should be seen in terms of lessons missed, rather than days missed.  For example, one day off school means five lessons missed. 

School attendance is vital for these reasons:

• Attendance above 96% gives your child the best chance of success for the future. 
• Attendance below 95% means your child has less chance of success. 
• Attendance below 90% means that they have limited chance of success and are very likely to fail or fall short of their target grades. 
• Good attendance is a life skill required in all professional industries. 

In February 2023, school attendance nationally was 92.6%.  Our aim is to reach 97% attendance every year.  We monitor our attendance carefully every week and work with parents who find it difficult to get their children to school.  Children should only miss school in exceptional circumstances like urgent medical appointments.  Where at all possible, routine appointments should be made in school holidays, and family trips should also take place in the holidays.  Obviously children will be unwell sometimes.  If you are not sure whether to send your child to school, please consult this NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

Punctuality is also vital for learning.  It is important that children have the time to settle at the beginning of the day and that their morning routine is consistent and calm.  Our punctuality target is 99%, and we give a weekly punctuality prize to the class with the best punctuality.  If you are late to school, please bring your child to the front gate and enter school with them to sign them in. Children who are late cannot enter school unattended.

If your child is unwell:

If your child is too unwell for school please call the school office as early as possible to give the reason for their absence.  We will phone parents if a child is absent and we do not know the reason why. 

Requesting an absence from school:

If you do need to request permission for child to miss school, you will find the request form below.

Please be aware that we will not authorise family holidays in term time.

Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs)

Local councils can fine parents if their child takes unauthorised absences from school. If your child has missed more than 15 sessions (half days) due to unauthorised absence, we will send you a warning letter and continue to work with you to ensure good school attendance.  If your child’s attendance does not improve, we will seek guidance from the council and a penalty notice of £60 per child (raising to £120 if not paid within 21 days) will be issued for each child who is absent from school.