Attendance and Absences

School Day

Register opens at	8:45 am
Register	8:45 am - 9:15 am

Doors open at 8:40am to allow children to settle into school before the start of the school day.

The school day starts at 8:45am. All children are expected to be in their classroom by 8:45am.

Lateness

Children who arrive after 8:45am but before 9:15am will be marked as 'Late' (L) whilst the register is open. This will not affect the attendance percentage but will be monitored carefully by Senior Leaders in the school. Persistent lateness could lead to the involvement of the Local Authority Attendance Team.

Children who arrive after 9:15am will be marked as 'Late' (U) after the register has closed. This will count against the attendance rate and if school have concerns then further actions will be taken to support the parents to improve the attendance rate. Persistent lateness could lead to the involvement of the Local Authority Attendance Team.

When should I keep my child off school due to illness?

UKHSA Should I Keep My Child Off School Guidance

Persistent and Severe Absences

Persistent Absence: (i.e. miss 10% or more of school (equivalent to one day or more a fortnight across a full school year)), the school will work with parents, and if required, the local authority to put additional targeted support in place to remove any barriers to attendance and re-engage these children.

Severe Absence: (i.e. they are absent more than they are present (those missing 50% or more of school)). These severely absent children may find it more difficult to be in the school or face bigger barriers to their regular attendance and as such are likely to need more intensive support across a range of partners. The school will therefore work with all relevant services to prioritise them. All partners should work together to make this group the top priority for support – this may include specific support with attendance or a whole family plan, but it may also include consideration for an education, health and care plan or an alternative form of educational provision where necessary to overcome the barriers to being in school.

Illness/Unplanned Absence

You must notify the school office on the first day of absence if your child is ill and cannot attend school.

Please contact the school by 9:00am at the latest and speak to the office staff or leave a message. (01327 855100). As a safeguarding measure, parents will be contacted between 9:00am and 9:30am if we have not received a reason why your child is off school.

Police may be called if we are unable to reach any of the named contacts and we are concerned about a missing child.

Leave of Absence Request

The school must be notified of any requests for leave of absence prior to date of the absence. All requests must be in writing using the ‘Leave of Absence Request’ form.

Absences can only be authorised for ‘exceptional’ circumstances. Holidays are not an exceptional circumstance and will be unauthorised. See our Attendance Policy for more details.

If a school deems a child’s attendance to be irregular (i.e. they have 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks (including spanning different terms or school years)) it must consider whether a penalty notice is appropriate as the non-attendance will have reached the national threshold for such consideration. The school should make a judgement on each individual case to ensure fairness and consistency.

The first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular child will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. (Each parent who is liable for the child’s offence(s) can be issued with a penalty notice, but this will usually only be the parent / parents who allowed the absence.)

A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same child is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days

A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within those 3 years, alternative action should be taken instead. This will often include considering prosecution but may include other tools such as one of the other attendance legal interventions.

See our Attendance Policy for more details.

Silverstone CE Primary School