School Opening and Closing Times
The school gates open at 8.40am and lessons start at 8.50am. The school day finishes at 3.15pm and children should be collected by 3.25pm. Any children who have not been collected will be taken to the school office and parents contacted.
Attendance
Children should always attend school regularly during term times. There are only two exceptions to this:
- When your child is too ill to go to school
- When the school has authorised your child to be absent from school
If your child is too ill to attend school, you should always call the school office (01227 830276) to let us know.
Absence
Anytime you wish to take your child out of school during term time, you must ask Mr Tibbles, the Headteacher, for permission to do so. It is always the Headteacher's decision whether or not to allow an absence. If you do not ask for permission, or it is not allowed and you take your child out of school anyway, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.
Parents often assume that they have the right to take their child out of school during term-time for family holidays; this isn't true. New DfE regulations recommend that Headteachers do not authorise time out of school for a family holiday.
The amendments make it clear that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Amendments to the regulations remove references to ‘family holiday’ and ‘extended leave’ as well as the statutory threshold of ten school days.
In order to comply with the new regulations, it means that holidays taken during term time will be recorded as ‘unauthorised’ and may be subject to a Penalty Notice. ‘Exceptional’ circumstances are likely to be rare and would be for events such as a funeral or a wedding. Applications must be submitted in writing before the event. In addition, parents are urged to make all routine medical and dental appointments after school or during school holidays.
Punctuality
It is also important that your child gets to school on time. Registration is at 8.50am and by this time, all pupils should be in the classroom ready to start the school day. If children arrive late, it not only disrupts their learning, but has an impact on the learning of the whole class.
What happens if my child's attendance is too low?
As a school, we aim for 98% attendance. If your child's attendance dips below 90%, we will contact you to see if there is any support that we can offer in ensuring that your child attends school regularly. This may seem high but 90% equates to one day off every two weeks, which has a significant impact on a child's learning.
If attendance continues to drop, then we may refer to matter to a KCC School's Liaison Officer who will be in contact to investigate.
