Attendance
The Legal Stance
- All Children in England are to attend school for 190 days per year.
- All members of staff are to attend work for 195 days per year. (individual schools determine the 5 staff training days, and are often different for all schools)
- Children cannot be granted authorised absence for holidays, day trips or for visiting relatives during term time. Parents are strongly discouraged from removing children from school during term time. From 1st January 2019, school will fine parents for holidays taken during term time.
- Children receive 2 marks in the school register each day.
- Only under exceptional circumstances can an absence be authorised from school and evidence must be provided.
- Schools administer the registers for attendance, that are electronically checked by the local Education Welfare Officer (EWO).
- Parents have the legal responsibility to ensure that their children are in school during term time.
- Parents are responsible to inform the school if their child is absent from school with a reason for the absence.
- Absences are categorised by all schools in England in the same way in the class registers.
- Schools will send out letters informing parents when a child’s attendance falls below an acceptable percentage and will be invited to discuss the attendance with an Education Welfare Officer from the local authority.
- The Local Authority and the Education Welfare Officer have the legal powers to issue fixed term fines of £60 per child/per parent for poor attendance.
- Schools monitor lateness rigorously as children need to be in school on time. (Gates open at 8.45am and close at 9am) Any child arriving after this time must enter with parents through the school office and sign in.
For more information please see our Attendance Policy (in the policies section of the website)
Our current school percentage and target for attendance is 97%.
For any issues relating to school attendance please contact our Family Support Officer; Mrs C Walker through the school office.
