Attendance

Sickness and Absences:

The Federation run a  policy of ‘first day calling’. This means that if your child does not attend school we will give you a quick ring after registration to see how things are. If your child is poorly and going to miss school that day, please telephone the school before 0900 and leave a message either with the admin team or on the answerphone. If your child has had sickness and/or diarrhea, they will need to remain off school for 48 hours after the last bout of illness.

Contact details:

Please keep your contact details up to date. It is very important that any changes of telephone and mobile numbers for all contacts are given to the office as soon as they change. It is vital that we are able to reach you in an emergency situation or if your child is unwell.

Late collecting:

If you are going to be late collecting your child, please telephone the school.  We do not let children leave with any other adult unless we have had direct instructions from their parent or carer. We will never leave a child on their own. There will be occasions when staff may not be around to look after a child for a lengthy period.

Holidays in term time:

We believe that in order for a pupil to fully benefit from their education, good attendance is crucial. It is the policy of our school to celebrate achievement and full attendance is a critical factor to a productive and successful school career.

Please note that from 19 August 2024, a new national framework for penalty notices has been introduced, following changes to legislation.

From this date, the amounts of an issued penalty notice will change for absences occurring after 19 August 2024.

The first penalty notice will be issued at £160, however, if paid within 21 days of being issued the cost is reduced to £80. The second penalty notice will be issued at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.

A family holiday is not normally considered by the Government to be an ‘exceptional circumstance’ and therefore will not be authorised by this school.

These measures are decided upon and taken by the county not the school. The schools have no power to authorise fines nor rescind them. Schools are required to notify the Local Authority if a pupil has a number of unauthorised absences. Unauthorised absences can be acquired when;

1) Leave has been requested, but the circumstances are such that the school is unable to authorise the leave and it is taken anyway.

2) Leave is not requested and/or the school has grounds to believe that the child has been taken out of school for an avoidable reason (example – a family holiday). Only the Head teacher can authorise an absence. This year there have been occasions when schools have been notified that the pupil is sick, but the school later discovers and reasonably believes that the reason given for the absence is not genuine.

3) A child continually arrives late after the registration period has closed.

This school will be notifying the Local Authority in all of the circumstances listed above.

If your child has unauthorised absences a school can make a request to Devon County Council (through the Attendance Improvement Service) to instigate legal action. If you have parental responsibility*, this could mean receiving any of the following:

A school absence penalty notice
Should a school absence penalty notice be issued, one notice will be issued to each parent or carer for each child involved.

A magistrate summons
This could lead to a criminal record, a fine of up to £2,500 or a term of imprisonment for up to three months or both.

Education Supervision Order (ESO)
The Children Act 1989 allows the local education authority to apply to the Family Proceedings Court for an ESO for any child of compulsory school age, whom it is felt, is not being properly educated. The intention behind the ESO is to support parents in fulfilling their legal responsibilities.

The ESO is only suitable where the child and the parents or carers are willing to co-operate with the process. If the application for an order is successful the ESO will last for one year but may be extended for up to three years. A supervising officer will be appointed by the Court. The role of the supervisor is to work with the child and family to ensure that an appropriate education is received.

*The Education Act 1996 defines a parent as: ‘all natural parents, whether married or not and any person who is not a parent of the child but who has parental responsibility or who has care of the child’.

We understand the disappointment that the refusal of a leave request may cause and we apologise, but as you can appreciate this policy represents the schools responsibility and commitment towards providing your child’s education and supporting their future life opportunities. We hope you will support us by ensuring that your son/daughter obtains the maximum benefit from their time at school by attending punctually for the 190 days each year that the law requires (unless prevented from doing so by an unavoidable circumstances).

Thank you for your anticipated support in this matter.