Attendance
Introduction
Parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children receive full time education. Regular attendance is essential if children are to progress with their learning. The school day is divided into two registration sessions so, for example, one full day of absence will be recorded as two sessions.
Lucy Hewerdine is our Senior Attendance Champion, for day-to-day aspects of attendance, please contact our Attendance Officer, Lisa Corston, 01733 703611 or attendance@fourfields.cambs.sch.uk.
Notification of Absence
Parents/carers must contact school on the first and every subsequent day of absence by 9:00am. For any pupil not present at the close of registration, and the reason is still unknown, a member of the attendance team will attempt to make contact with the parent/carers once the registers have closed at 9:05am.
Any unexplained absence will be recorded as unauthorised absence if there is no response from a parent/carer to an enquiry regarding their child’s absence from school.
For absences relating to a medical appointment, supporting information may be requested to authorise this absence. This can be a text message which clearly identifies who the appointment is for, or an appointment card. A period of absence will only be authorised in relation to the length of the appointment.
Punctuality
We believe that punctuality is an important social courtesy and regularly arriving late to school not only disrupts your child's opportunities for learning but those of the children in his/her class. Our arrival and registration procedures are as follows:
- The classroom door is opened at 8:40 am.
- All external classroom doors are locked at 8:50am.
- Once the external classroom door has been closed, entry to the school is via the main entrance.
- Registers are open at 8:50am and close at 9:05am. Pupils who arrive at school after the register has been taken, but before it is closed, will be recorded as ‘L’ - late on the register.
- Pupils who arrive at school after registers close at 9:05am, without an unavoidable reason, will have their lateness recorded as ‘U’ - unauthorised late which then impacts on their overall attendance level.
Late arrivals are monitored and the school will seek to understand and support you with any barriers to attendance.
Term Time Leave
We expect attendance at school to be 100% unless there are exceptional or unavoidable reasons for absence.
Recent government guidelines have removed the discretion for headteachers agreeing to term-time leave for holiday purposes. Any requests for leave of absence need to be submitted before the leave is taken. Parents must complete a Term-Time Leave Request Form (see Useful Links below) and provide any supporting evidence, if applicable, with their request. This also applies to parents requesting to take their child out of school during the school day.
If the school suspect term-time leave has been taken but the parents/carers have not completed a Term-Time Leave Request Form, we will write to the parents/carers giving them an opportunity to clarify the reason for absence and provide supporting evidence. Failure to respond to or provide supporting evidence will result in a referral to the Local Authority for unauthorised leave from school.
Exceptional circumstances (definition of exceptional: rare, unavoidable, short) will be considered on an individual basis.
Penalty Notices
If a pupil takes unauthorised term-time leave for 10 consecutive sessions or more (generally 5 days) they will be subject to a Penalty Notice. The fine for a penalty notice is £80 per child, per parent/carer, increasing to £160 if not paid after 21 days but within 28 days for pupils who are of statutory school age. If a penalty notice remains unpaid, parents may be the subject of court proceedings for failing to ensure the regular school attendance of their child and this could result in a fine of up to £2,500 and/or a term of imprisonment of up to 3 months per parent.
For second offences of unauthorised term-time leave (10 consecutive sessions or more) within a three-year rolling period, the fine is a flat £160 per parent, per child. For the third offence in a three year rolling period, the referral will be automatically considered for prosecution in relation to Section 444 Education Act 1996.
Where a parent/carer takes a child out of school during term time for an extended period (20 days or more), not authorised by the school, prosecution in relation to Section 444 Education Act 1996, may also be considered by the Local Authority. For more information on Penalty Notices or Prosecution, please see the Cambridgeshire County Council’s website page on school attendance.
The poster below outlines the Penalty Notice process:
fourfields pn information poster july 24.pdf
General Non-Attendance
This is different to being absent due to illness or other authorised circumstances, or for unauthorised term-time leave. General non-attendance is when a pupil is absent from school, without it being exceptional circumstances and without it being authorised by school. If your child has irregular school attendance, the school will work with you to identify the barriers to attendance and will try to find ways to remove those barriers.
Please see below for a poster which provides information on the support and intervention that might take place for children who are at risk of persistent absence:
fourfields irregular attendance information poster july 24.pdf
Useful Links
Local Authority School Attendance Leaflet
Is my child too ill for school?
