Attendance and Leave of Absence
If children attend school regularly and punctually, they will be best able to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. We are therefore committed to achieving excellent levels of attendance for individual children and for our school as a whole. We expect all pupils to arrive on time and to attend at least 96% of the time.
In order to minimise disruption to children’s education, headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances for doing so. This means that family holidays cannot be authorised and routine medical or dental appointments should take place out of school time. However, leave for urgent medical appointments, or those that are outside of a parent's control (such as referrals to medical specialists), for religious observance for members of recognised religious groups (where it is normal practice for families to meet together on such an occasion) and where there are compelling reasons for long distance travel or travel abroad may be permitted. Applications for any of these must be made through our online leave of absence form.
The government published new statutory guidance for schools alongside the introduction of revised school attendance regulations in August 2024. The guidance places a much greater requirement on schools to used fixed-penalty notices for pupils who have unauthorised absence. More information on this can be found below and in our attendance policy on our policies page.
