Attendance
We would like to congratulate the many parents who make sure their children attend school regularly.
It is a parent’s legal responsibility to ensure their children receive appropriate education. Failing to send your child to school regularly without good reason is a criminal offence.
Absence disrupts the education of the individual pupil and the whole class. Are you aware those children who do not attend regularly:
- do not achieve well in exams
- find it difficult to maintain friendships
- are more likely to become involved in crime
- miss out on opportunities in further education and the world of work
Absence can only be authorised by the Head Teacher, within the boundaries set by the Education (Pupil Registrations) (England) Regulations 2006.
Please remember that parental illness, going shopping, visiting family, truancy, not wanting to go to school, alleged bullying (speak to school immediately to resolve the issue) are not acceptable reasons to be absent. All of these will be recorded as unauthorised absence, including if your child arrives at school after the close of registration.
Mrs Bunting, our Parent Support Advisor is available to support you with any challenges that you may be facing which is affecting your child’s attendance.
We regularly monitor your child’s attendance and we will contact you, if your child’s attendance is causing concern, to discuss how we can work together to remove any barriers to good attendance.
If your child is not attending school please phone the school 01553 774587 and select option 1 on the school answer phone service to expalin the reason for their absence. If it is more convenient please sent an email to the school office with ther reason for the absence.
Leave in term time will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.
Legal action that may be taken
Issuing penalty notices: Each parent receives a penalty notice for each child who has unauthorised absence. The penalty is £60 or £120 depending on how soon payment is made. So, if there are two parents and two children the total penalties could be up to £480. Failure to pay may result in prosecution.
- Taking parents to court for unauthorised absence: Education Act 1996 Section 444(1) – court can fine each parent up to £1000 per child, order payment of prosecution costs and/or impose a Parenting Order.
- Taking parents to court for persistent unauthorised absence: Education Act 1996 Section 444(1A) – court can fine each parent up to £2,500 per child, order payment of the prosecution costs, impose a Parenting Order and/or sentence you to a period of imprisonment of up to 3 months.
Being taken to court could result in you having a criminal record.
How does your child compare?
| Attendance during one school year | equals this number of days absent | which is approximately this many weeks absent | which means this number of lessons missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90% | 19 days | 4 weeks | 100 lessons |
| 80% | 38 days | 8 weeks | 200 lessons |
| 70% | 57 days | 11.5 weeks | 290 lessons |
Frequent absence can add up to a considerable amount of lost learning and can seriously disadvantage your child in adult life.
If your child’s level of absence is of serious concern you will receive a letter advising you about improving attendance. After this, any further unauthorised absence may result in the School and the Local Authority taking legal action.
We will improve attendance by making it clear within the school and local community that unauthorised absence is not acceptable. You will be informed of the number of penalty notices issued, prosecutions and the level of fines.
Again, we would like to thank those parents who make sure their child is attending school regularly and are therefore benefiting fully from their educational opportunity.
