​ATTENDANCE 

Good attendance at school, above 97%, is vital to ensure children achieve to their full potential. It supports not only their academic success but also the development of their personal and social skills and gives them access to a wide range of additional opportunities. When children are absent, even for just a short period of time, it is more difficult for them to catch-up with the work that their class has been doing. 

We understand that everybody gets poorly from time to time but it is ok for children to be in school with a sniffle or sore throat, or even if they are just feeling a little unwell. However, if your child is not well enough to attend school is tis vital that you contact school to let us know why they will not be in and when you expect them to return. Please note that if a child is suffering from diarrhoea or vomiting, they should remain off school for 48 hours after the symptoms have stopped to prevent other children from getting ill. 

If your child is absent please call school by 9:30am on the first day of absence on 01228 558724

We have a legal responsibility to account for a child's whereabouts and well being and if they are not in school are required to follow this up with parents or guardians. Our procedure for doing this can be found in our attendance policy.  

Please be advised that when we cannot locate the whereabouts of a child we may contact other members of your family, make a home visit, contact Children's services or ask the police for advice and support. 

Both attendance and punctuality are important in supporting children's access to education. 

Attendance

We have adopted the following percentage threshold for defining levels of attendance.

Punctuality

The table below shows the cumulative effect of persistent lateness on a child's overall access to education. For example, if your child is 10 minutes late, everyday, that means they will miss 6 and a half days of school each year.  

Impact of Persistent Lateness

Leave of absence request and Enforcement

Children can only be granted a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances, the Government defines this as something unexpected or unavoidable. If you wish to apply for a leave of absence you are now required to complete a leave of absence request form and submit it to school with as much notice as possible. A copy of this form is available at the bottom of this page. 

Please be advised that there are new expectations on Local Authorities and schools to secure good attendance. There are also new powers of enforcement for Local Authorities. Where children do not have good attendance and families are not acting to improve this attendance, they should expect the Local Authority to take enforcement action. More detail on this can be found in our attendance policy available at the bottom of this page.

Holidays are not considered to be an exceptional circumstance. After, you have submitted your leave of absence form, we will contact you to let you know whether the absence will be classed as authorised or unauthorised. If it is unauthorised, and your child misses 10 sessions (5 full days) or more in a 10 week period, we will have no choice but to refer this to the Local Authority who will probably issue a fixed penalty notice or prosecute parents. This could mean receiving one of the following:

- a penalty notice - the first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 per parent, per child if paid within 28 days. this will be reduced to £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days. A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil is charged at a flat rate of £160 per parent, per child if paid within 28 day (with no option for a reduction). if a penalty notice goes unpaid after 28 days, then court proceedings will be initiated.

If a previous penalty notice has been issued, the Local Authority may decide to proceed directly to prosecution.

Prosecution means that the parent is guilty of an offence and may be sentenced to a fine of up to £2,500 and/or a 3-month custodial sentence as set out in section 444 of the 1996 Education Act.

The School Day 

The school yard is manned from 8.40am and the bell rings at 8.55am. Breakfast club is open from 8.20am each school day. If your child is in school between 8.20 and 8.40am, they must go into the Breakfast club as the yard is not manned until that time. we cannot take responsibility for any child who comes into the yard before 8.20am. Please therefore ensure that your child arrives no earlier than 8.20am.

School Hours Years 1, 2

Morning lessons 8.55am to 12.20pm. Morning break 11:00am - 11.20am

Afternoon lessons 1:20pm to 3:10pm   

School Hours Years 3,  4 , 5 + 6

Morning lessons 8:55am to 12:30pm. Morning break 11.00am - 11.20am

Afternoon lessons 1:20pm to 3:10pm for Year 3,

1:20pm to 3.15pm for Years 4, 5 & 6

Nursery + Reception

The unit’s doors open at 8:45am and 15 hours nursery sessions finish for the day at 12 noon.

30 hours nursery sessions and reception class sessions break for lunch at 12 noon  and the day ends for 30 hours nursery/reception sessions at 3pm

Breakfast Clubs

We operate 3 separate Breakfast Clubs (all free of charge and available to all children).

FSU children in the FSU kitchen

Years 1, 2 & 3 in the Main Hall

Years 4, 5 & 6 in the Breakfast Club Room (next to the school library)

They all begin at 8.20am.

At our FREE Breakfast Club there is no need to book and all children are welcome. 

Toast with jam or butter will be on offer every day as well as a drink of milk/water. A variety of other foods such as i.e. cereal, crumpets, porridge, yoghurts, cheese, scotch pancakes are also available at varying times. Hot chocolate is sometimes served on cold days.

As school meals are now cooked to order, we must ensure that meals are ordered by 9.30am so that the cook can begin to prepare the appropriate meals. If you normally order meals online for your child and they are going to be absent, please go online and cancel their meal (we will do this for you if we notice that this has not been done). If you are to come in late for whatever reason, please make sure that we know this so that meals are not cancelled unnecessarily.

All children enter and exit school via our gates on Edward Street.

Supporting you to Support your child

Please ensure good attendance for your child as we can only help your child if they are here and on time every day. Here are some simple suggestions to encourage attendance:

• Be ready - Make sure that your child is ready and prepared for school with their uniform, PE Kit, homework & home/school book. 
• Be interested - Make sure you have time to talk to your child about school each day, find out what homework needs to be done and encourage and support them with this. Read with them for at least 15 minutes every day or if they are older encourage them to read. You could talk to them about the book that they are reading. Your child is more likely to want to attend school if they feel supported and their anxieties listened to.
• Be positive - Problems in school may occur with other children or with their work. Reassure your child that you and the school will work together to provide help and support.
• Be firm - Unless your child is too ill to attend then he or she should be in school. Make sure your child understands that you do not approve of them missing school.
• Be clear with the school - If your child is too ill to attend school then contact the school on the first day of absence and keep the school informed.
• Be aware - You must not take your child out of school for a holiday during school term time.
• Be available - Let the school know how you can be contacted and provide emergency telephone numbers.
• Be supportive of the school - Make sure your child follows the school rules and you are clear about the school’s expectations, policies and procedures. For example behaviour, uniform and attendance
• Be involved – speak to your child’s teacher or the head teacher if you need to and attend parents' evenings.