Attendance & Absence
Attendance and Absence
To report your child's absence: call 01295 258224 and dial 1 for the absence line
Absence
We know that learning is at the heart of any route to success. We believe that all our children at William Morris have the potential to, and deserve to achieve anything they set their minds to. In order to do that it is so important that your child is in school as much as possible so that the teachers can do what they do best, educate and help children learn to reach to their full potential. It is a requirement that all children attend school for 95% or more of the available sessions in an academic year. There are 175 non-school days each year for family time, holidays and appointments. When attendance drops below 95%, children are spending more time out of school than in school during any one year.
Should your child's attendance drop below 95%, you will be informed via letter and your child's attendance will be monitored for 10 school days. If attendance continues to fall and drops below 90%, you will be invited to a parent contract meeting to discuss your child's attendance, and to identify any barriers to good attendance that school and you can work together to minimise or remove. Parent contracts remain in place for 20 school days and are reviewed after this period. If poor attendance persists, and / or if your child has 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence within a 10-week period, a referral will be submitted to the County Attendance Team, and you may be subject to a fixed-penalty notice fine.
In order to promote good attendance, there are weekly and termly awards for the best class attendance in school, as well as individual Dojo awards for pupils with 100% attendance each week.
Absence and Penalty Notices
It is the policy of this school not to authorise absence for holidays during term-time. While advance permission can be given in exceptional circumstances, this is rare and can only be granted by the Head Teacher. Any such request for absence during term-time must be recorded on a Grant for Leave of Absence in Exceptional Circumstances form at least two weeks prior to the leave date. Forms can be obtained from the school office. If a term-time holiday is taken without permission, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised, and a referral may be made to the County Attendance Team. This may result in the issue of an Education Penalty Notice under section 444A Education Act 1996 in respect of each absent child, to each parent/carer.
Penalty notices are intended as an alternative to prosecution. The first Penalty Notice is a charge of £80 per parent per child if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice, increasing to £160 if paid between day 21 and day 28. Where it is deemed appropriate to issue a second Penalty Notice to the same parent for the same child within 3 years of the first notice, the second notice is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days. If the penalty is not paid in full within 28 days, the usual consequence is a Magistrates’ Court prosecution for the underlying section 444(1) Education Act 1996 offence of failure to secure regular school attendance. A third Penalty Notice cannot be issued to the same parent for the same child within 3 years of the first notice, and so in cases where the national threshold is met for a third or subsequent time another action will be taken instead, which may include the local authority considering prosecution. If further instances of unauthorised absence occur despite a penalty notice having previously been issued, or if the child’s attendance is a wider matter of concern, the local authority may consider prosecution in any event.
Medical Appointments
If your child has an medical appointment, where possible it must be booked out of school hours. Where the appointment cannot be booked out of school hours, please can you bring an appointment card or letter into school with the date of appointment on.
Illness
We understand that children do get ill and there are lots of 'childhood illnesses' that are common in schools. The government have put together a handy poster which outlines common illnesses along with a guideline of how long a child will need to stay home (if applicable) for each illness. See the Infection Control in Schools poster below.
