Absence & illness

Illness

Please click on the link if your child requires medication to be administered during the school dayRequest for the school to administer medication

If your child is unwell and will not be attending school you must let us know the reason for the absence before 9.00 am by calling the absence line 01606 668380. You should call the absence line before 9am each day until your child returns to school to give an update.

When you leave your message please do not just say that your child is "poorly" or "not well". You should provide the following information:

• What symptoms your child has

• When your child started to feel unwell

• If you will be making/have already made a doctor’s appointment

• Is your child able to attend school with calpol/painkillers/anti biotics etc?

• When do you expect them to return? Ensure this is realistic and in line with the NHS advice

• Do you need support with anything else?

If your child has sickness or diarrhoea they must be kept off school for at least 48 hours after the last attack of vomiting and / or diarrhoea. If parents adhere to this rule, hopefully these nasty bugs will not spread from one child to another easily.

For more information on specific illnesses please refer to the NHS website https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

Absence  ( Not illness) 

Please use this online form to make an absence request 

New Attendance Rules Parents Need to Know for September 2024

In preparation for September 2024 and the new rules around attendance please ensure you read the following and review any holiday plans during term-time you may have as a family.  Ministers have now published guidance on managing school attendance that will become mandatory from September 2024. Here's what you need to know:

Changes to the rules

• Unauthorised term time absence - an absence is considered to be continuous even if the absence is either side of a weekend or a school holiday eg Wednesday-Friday plus Monday-Tuesday, or the last day of term in December and the first day of term in January.  Absence of this pattern will now trigger a Fixed Penalty Notice, as well as term time leave of 5 or more consecutive days

• From September, FPNs will also be issued if a pupil misses 10 sessions (10x half days) of unauthorised term time absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. The threshold can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence. For example, two full days of unauthorised holiday in term time plus six instances of arriving late (after the registers have closed)  within a 10 week period.

What will happen if I want a holiday in term time?

• As of August 2024, the law ceases to include a leave of absence for a family holiday. 

• A leave of absence should not be granted unless there are exceptional circumstances. Generally, a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation would not constitute an exceptional circumstance. 

• Headteachers are only empowered to approve a leave of absence when it is requested in advance by the parent or carer with whom the child resides and when circumstances of the requested leave are ‘exceptional’, according to the school’s Attendance Policy.

Changes to Fixed Penalty Notices

• FPNs will continue to be issued per parent per child.

• The first penalty notice for unauthorised term time absence or irregular attendance is £160 per child per parent payable in 28 days, reduced to £80 per child per parent if paid within 21 days.

• A second FPN issued to the same parent for the same child within 3 years of the first FPN, for either unauthorised term time absence or irregular attendance, will be charged at £160 per parent per child. 

• Fines per parent will be capped to two fines within any three-year period. Once this limit has been reached, other actions like a parenting order or prosecution will be considered.

• If you are prosecuted and attend court because your child hasn’t been attending school, you could get a fine of up to £2,500.

You can find out more about the new rules here

Our Attendance Policy will be updated to reflect the changes in the rules.

Our school policy defines an “authorised absence” as:

• An absence for sickness for which the school has granted leave.

• Medical or dental appointments which unavoidably fall during school time, for which the school has granted leave.

• Religious or cultural observances for which the school has granted leave.

• An absence due to a family emergency.

Our school policy defines an “unauthorised absence” as:

• Parents keeping children off school unnecessarily or without reason.

• Truancy before or during the school day.

• Absences which have never been properly explained.

• Arrival at school after the register has closed.

• Shopping, looking after other children or birthdays.

• Day trips and holidays in term-time which have not been agreed.

• Leaving school for no reason during the day.