Attendance and Lateness is monitored by:

Mrs James and Miss Delves 

We are here to support you to get to school on time and every day. It is important for all children's learning to have good attendance. Please come and see me if there is anything I can help you with. 

Attendance is extremely important and is crucial to every child making progress and achieving. We expect, and the law states that children must attend school each day. Holidays, days out and appointments must not be taken in term time as every session a child misses impacts on their education and the school.

Lateness is also a serious matter and we would ask you to ensure your child is at school on time.  It is also important to collect your child on time at 3:15pm. Action will be taken on all absences and lates in line with policy. Penalty Notices will be applied for and may be issued for unauthorised absences over 10 sessions (5 days).

If there is a problem with absence, please do not hesitate to speak to one of us, so we can support by putting a plan into place. We would very much appreciate your support with this matter. The attendance policy is available to download below.

When your child is absent

To report an absence, please contact the school as soon as possible on the first day of absence by calling the office on 0117 3772260. This should be done by 9am.

Please leave a message on the answer-phone stating the reasons for the absence. By law, schools must record absences and the reasons given. 

Arriving late to school

When a child arrives late to school it can be very disruptive to your child, the teacher and other children in the class. If your child arrives late to school they will be marked as late on the register. If your child arrives very late (after 9.40), the child will be marked as an “Unauthorised Late” – This is the same as an Unauthorised Absence.

Persistent Absences

The government definition of persistent absenteeism is any pupil whose attendance falls below 90%. The school has a duty of care to take appropriate action when a child’s attendance falls below 90% in order to work with the parents and help to improve attendance. Although we acknowledge there are times when pupils are generally ill, there are a rising number of cases where pupil absence is unauthorised (no reason given or no supporting evidence) and a subsequent rise in the number of cases of pupil attendance falling below 90%. The school monitors attendance monthly and attendance panels are held termly with parents whose child’s attendance is 90% or below and has shown no signs of improvement. The school will also work closely with Bristol Education Welfare Services.

Authorised Absences

Authorised absence may include:

• Genuine illness of the pupil;
• Emergency hospital/dental appointment for the pupil; (not routine check ups)
• Death of a near relative;
• Religious observance (faith of the parents / carers).

Absence Requests

To request an absence, please complete the form below and return to the school office.

Unauthorised Absences

Unauthorised absences could include, but are not limited to:

•  A shopping trip;
•  A birthday treat;
•  Oversleeping due to a late night;
•  Looking after other children;
•  Letting the gas man in, etc.
• Term time holiday - Family holidays should take place during the school holiday dates. These are published a year in advance. Please be mindful that absence due to a holiday is not, and never has been a parent’s entitlement.

Where possible make medical/dental appointments out of school hours and let the school know in advance should this not be possible.

Absence and the Law

As a parent you are committing an offence if you fail to make sure that your child attends regularly, even if they are missing school without your knowledge. The details of Parents with children who have unauthorised absence (including those who have taken an unauthorised holiday) will be passed to the school’s Education Attendance Officer, who could consider issuing a Penalty Notice or starting legal action.

DfE Statutory Guidance

Please refer to the following documents from the Department for Education for further guidance about the legal requirements.