Our Attendance Procedures

School gates open at 8:30am until 8:50am.  After this time your child will be considered late for school.  School finishes at 3:20pm.
If your child is absent from school:

• Please call the school office before 9am on the first day of absence giving the reason for absence.  You must contact us every day that your child remains absent from school.
• We will record all reported absences on the school register.
• If we have not heard from parent/carers by 9:30am with a reason for absence, we will contact all listed contacts until contact is made. If no contact is made, we may complete a home visit.

 
Medical Appointments
Whenever possible, routine medical and dental appointments should be made outside school hours or in the school holidays. Non routine appointments, such as hospital or orthodontist appointments, will be authorised but we will need to see a copy of the appointment letter or text.
 
Fixed Penalty Notices
Pupils with a large number of unauthorised absences or who take a term-time holiday may be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice by the Local Authority of £60 increasing to £120 if not paid within 21 days.  These penalties are issued by Worcestershire Local Authority and are applied per child, per parent.
 
Term-time Holidays
We are unable to authorise any leave of absence during term-time unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances.’  Holidays are not considered to be exceptional circumstances so are not authorised. Ideally, any parents considering taking a holiday in term time must meet with the headteacher to discuss the impact of this. All leave of absence during term time, must be made well in advance. However, whenever a holiday request is made, a meeting will be held with the headteacher and Chair of Governors. Any unauthorised holidays taken that are over 5 days will be referred for a fixed penalty notice.
 
Persistent Absence
Children are considered "persistently absent" if their attendance falls below 90%.

Our Absence Procedures
In September, all children that were persistently absent from school (<90%) in the previous academic year, are issued with a letter to remind them of the importance of good attendance and to reiterate support available from school.

Tier 1 – From October half term, if a child’s attendance falls to around 93% at any point, a reminder letter will be sent to the parent advising them that their child is at risk of becoming persistently absent and that their attendance will be closely monitored.

Tier 2– Where a child’s attendance falls to 90% and below, the parent will be invited to attend a meeting with the Miss Edwards (our attendance lead).   At this stage, school will discuss with parents the ways in which attendance can be improved and a plan put in place. Targets will be set at this meeting and a review period established.  If attendance improves as a result of the plan, a letter will be sent notifying parents of this.

Tier 3 – After tier 1 and 2, where a child’s attendance still fails to improve after the period of review, the parent will be invited to attend another meeting with Miss Edwards and Mrs Bromage (pastoral lead) where further support will be offered, including external agency support if required. Further targets will be agreed upon. At this stage, parents will also be asked to sign an attendance contract.   A letter will be sent with the agreed targets and will also outline that prosecution may be the next step.

Tier 4 – Potential prosecution – penalty notice issued.
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A penalty notice at Tier 4 can be issued without intervention at Tiers 1-3, if a holiday is taken in term time.

Attendance Policy