Absence and Late Procedures

Absence Monitoring

Keeping accurate, detailed attendance records is a legal requirement of all schools. Therefore, if your child is absent from school for any reason, please help us by providing either written or verbal notification of this on the first day of absence and any subsequent days. There is an early morning telephone answering service on the normal school contact number (0121 422 5336 option 1) where you can leave a telephone message stating your child’s name, class and the nature of their illness (please be specific). This message will then be picked up by the office staff who will inform class teachers and update registers. If you are ever unsure on whether to send your child to school, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at the main school office. Please also see useful NHS guidance below:

Is my child too ill for school? NHS

The Education Hub- everything you need to know about school attendance

GOV.uk- School Attendance and Absence

If your child arrives late after the playground gates have closed, they will need to be brought into the main entrance of school and signed in by an accompanying adult. Likewise, if they need to leave school during the course of the day, for example for a medical appointment, parents will need to collect children from the school office where proof of the appointment will be requested and they will be signed out. Routine medical appointments should be made outside of the school day and during school holidays wherever possible.

Parents should avoid booking family holidays in term time to minimise the impact on pupils’ learning. Head Teachers are no longer permitted to grant any leave of absence in term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. This does not include family holidays. Please see the school’s Attendance Policy, found on the Policies Page, if you require further information regarding this.

The School Day

When dropping off your children before school, we ask that parents remain on the playground for KS1 and LKS2 children until doors open at 8:45am (children can not be left unattended on the playground/school office before this). On most occasions there will be a member of staff on duty before school who is available to pass on non-urgent messages to your child’s class teacher.

Whenever possible, Miss Hart and Miss Summers will be outside with Lolley by the pedestrian gate on Brennand Road and they are always happy to address any general queries. Mr Durham will close and lock the gates at 9.00am and 3.30pm and as such, we appreciate you leaving the playground in a timely manner at the beginning and end of the day. Early drop off/late collection fees of £5 per 5 minutes will be applied and failure to make payment may result in legal proceedings.

If you would like to see your child’s class teacher about a more in-depth matter, either send a note to the teacher or call or drop in to the school office so that an appointment can be made. Due to safeguarding, we politely request that parents or other adults do not enter school through any door other than the main entrance where a signing in system is available.

The school office hours can be found on the General Information Page under 'Communication'.