Attendance

Attendance and Absence Requests

Good attendance at Little Waltham C.E.V.A Primary School is a vital factor in determining how well pupils progress academically and whether they achieve their full potential in all areas of school life, both in lessons and in extra-curricular activities. It also impacts on their welfare and happiness at school.

Gates open in the morning from 8.40am and pupils will begin the day with a morning task revisiting prior learning. Registers are taken at 8.45am and your child will receive a late mark if they arrive after this time. The school gates will close promptly at 9am. Registers close at 9.15am and arrival at school after this time will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.

The Department for Education classifies children with an attendance below 90% as persistent absentees, in line with the Government’s commitment to reduce absences. In real terms this means that, for example from September to October half term, if your child had an absence of 4 days or more, they fall into this category of being a persistent absentee.

As a school we closely monitor the children’s attendance and are obliged to report any child in this category of persistent absentee to the local authority or the children missing education service on a termly basis. This is then reviewed by them and where appropriate parents will be called to attend a meeting with an officer from this service.

Whilst we would not want you to bring your child to school when they are genuinely ill, we would request that, wherever possible, doctors and dentist appointments are booked outside of school hours, as although these absences are authorised, they do count within the 90% attendance threshold. We understand that being unwell and absent from school is sometimes unavoidable. The follow-up procedures are an automatic part of the school’s statutory duties of care for the welfare and progress of pupils. A leaflet from the NHS outlining when you should keep your child at home due to illness is attached below.

We would also remind you that requests for holidays/leave of absence will not be authorised unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances’. The definition of ‘exceptional circumstance’ is rare, significant, unavoidable and short. A child who has two weeks out of school for a holiday will miss 50 hours of education. The Local Authority penalty notice for an absence taken that has not been authorised is up to £160 per parent per child (up to £640 for a family with 2 adults and 2 children). If you have had a previous penalty notice for unauthorised absence, the local authority may choose to prosecute you for further absences.

Absence Requests

There is no entitlement in law for students to take time off during term time and authorisation will only be given for exceptional circumstances.

Leave of absence must be applied for using the “Application for Leave of Absence from school during Term Time” form for each pupil (see below).

We will not consider applications for leave during term time:

at any time in September
during assessment and test periods in the school’s calendar affecting your child
when a pupil’s attendance record already includes any level of unauthorised absence or they have already been granted authorised leave within that academic year.

Any Leave of Absence taken without completing the appropriate application in advance, or taken when permission has been refused by the school, will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and may result in the school applying to the Local Authority (Attendance Compliance) to issue a Penalty Notice or if you have previously been issued a Penalty Notice, the school may request a direct prosecution by the Local Authority (Attendance Compliance).

If you would like to apply for an authorised absence from school, please download the form below and return it to the school as soon as possible.

Expectations at Little Waltham

To keep requests for their child to be absent to a minimum.
To offer a reason, or medical proof, for any period of absence, preferably before the absence or on the first day of absence.
To ensure that their child arrives at school on time, a reason should be offered for any lateness.
To work closely with the school and Attendance Service to resolve any problems that may impede a child’s attendance.
To take family holidays during school holiday periods and be aware that requests for holidays during term time will be refused.
To be aware of curriculum requirements and be especially vigilant with regards to attendance during important academic times such as SATS.