Attendance
Regular school attendance – why it’s so important
Encouraging regular school attendance is one of the most powerful ways you can prepare your child for success - both in school and in life.
Parental attitude has a key influence on a child’s school attendance and parents/carers can do much to encourage even reluctant pupils to attend.
Good school attendance habits are best started early. Children learn from those around them and you as parents/carers set the standards and expectations for your child. Showing your child the importance of attending school every day not only helps your child to settle quickly when starting school but helps them to keep and maintain friendships and enjoy the school environment.
Recording your child’s attendance
All schools are required to record details of pupils’ attendance and absence at school. They do so at the beginning of morning and afternoon sessions. If your child is absent, it is a requirement that you inform the school of the reason for the absence.
Absence Notification
If your child is unwell, we ask that you notify the school office no later than 9am. This is a child protection security measure and ensures that no child will go missing without our knowledge. For this reason, we ask that you call on every day of your child’s absence. There is a special answer-phone function for reporting absence which is picked up by the office staff so you can call at any time.
If your child is attending a club before school and walks to school alone, you must inform us of the absence before 8am on each day of absence.
Medical Appointments
We ask that you try to make most appointments outside of school hours. However, if your child has a medical appointment, please ensure you notify the class teacher as well as the school office.
If your child has an appointment but will be back in time for lunch, please ensure that you have notified us of their lunch requirement no later than 9.30am on the morning of the appointment, otherwise we cannot guarantee that a lunch will be available and you will need to provide a packed lunch.
Holidays
Children have 13 weeks annual holiday from school and school holiday dates are published well in advance online here. As such, all parents/carers are expected wherever possible to plan and take their family holidays at this time so as not to disrupt their children’s education. Education law states that parents do not have a right to take their child out of school for a holiday during term time. Only in exceptional circumstances may a Headteacher grant permission for leave; and it is the Headteacher's decision on whether the absence is exceptional and how many days to approve.
Parents/carers who take their child out of school without the absence being agreed and authorised by written permission from the school can be issued with a penalty fine. Further details can be found here.
Possible penalties for non-attendance
Once you have registered your child at a school, it is your responsibility to make sure that she/he attends regularly and punctually. If you fail to do so, the Local Authority has a statutory duty to consider legal action to enforce school attendance.
For more information, click here
Attendance Documents
Hampshire County Council Penalty Notices - Advice for Parents & Carers