Attendance
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At Thatto Heath Community Primary School our vision is to ensure that all of our pupils have the best possible chance to achieve their academic and personal potential. We strive to promote and create responsible citizens who are punctual and who have consistently high rates of attendance. We aim to achieve this by providing a welcoming, caring environment, where our students and their families feel supported and safe. We ask that our pupils and parents work with us to achieve this.
Latest Attendance Newsletter
Attendance Newsletter
Why is Attendance Important?
- There is a link between good school attendance and high attainment
- Promotes children's welfare and safeguarding
- Enables pupils to access the widest possible range of opportunities
- Encourage good friendships with peers
Illness
We understand that if your child is poorly, they should not attend school. However, if a child has just a slight cold, a headache that can be helped with Calpol or a mild viral infection for example, they are able to come to school. Please be reassured that we will take good care of your child and if we feel they are too ill to continue in school, we will contact you. If your child has diarrhoea or vomiting, they should not return to school until 48 hours after their last episode or symptom.
Medical Evidence We Accept
You do not have to attend a GP practice to provide the school with medical evidence. Below is a list of acceptable evidence.
- Appointment Cards
- Appointment Letters
- Screenshot of NHS appointment text
- Photograph of the electronic booking system (Hospital and Doctors)
- Photograph of medicine label
- Photograph of prescription (before it is cashed)
- A Pharmacist visit note
Medical Appointments
Where possible, all medical appointments should be made outside of school times. Where this is not possible, disruption to learning should be kept to a minimum.
What to do if you need to report an absence
- Ring the school office before 9:30am to report the absence and reason
- Report the absence on Edulink
- Include, where possible, some detail about any illness and symptoms
- You must ring on every day of absence.
Lateness
Children arriving late may seriously disrupt not only their continuity of learning but also that of others. When pupils arrive late after the close of registers and fail to provide an adequate explanation they are marked as unauthorised for that session.
5 lates after registration has closed (9.30am) in a 10-week period will result in a fixed penalty notice.
If your child is late to school, they might:
- Be embarrassed or unsettled
- Miss important information
- Miss the start to learning
- Miss opportunities to socialise with their friends at the start of the school day
10 minutes late every day = 36 hours lost learning each year!
Requesting a leave of absence
Children are not entitled to holidays during the school term. Family breaks / holidays should be taken during the holiday periods. Leave of Absence will only be granted in very exceptional circumstance.
A Leave of Absence Request form should be completed via Edulink or you can collect a form from the school office. Requests should be submitted in advance of the leave.
- Unauthorised holidays may result in a Fixed Penalty notice – if issued the charge is £120 per parent, per child, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
How we tackle poor attendance:
We take a proactive approach to improving the attendance of individual children whose attendance falls below 90%. Children who have less than 90% attendance are classed by the Department for Education as being persistently absent. We will communicate concerns about poor attendance to parents by using an escalating approach.