Attendance

We are very proud of our school community and that our pupils enjoy being at school. We would like to thank the many families who actively engage with us, ensuring that their children attend school regularly and arrive on time. This reflects in our good attendance and punctuality figures which frequently  rate above the local and national average. It is important to acknowledge that many families in our school community do follow the school attendance procedures and I would like to thank you all for your support. 

How attendance will be monitored

Our school attendance team will continue to monitor daily attendance and punctuality via the class registers. Should your child be unwell and unable to attend, please ensure you contact school by 9am latest either via the school absence line or the school app. This will ensure we can account for the whereabouts of all children by close of registration. If you are unsure if your child is well enough to attend school, please refer to the NHS guidance ‘Is My Child Too Ill for School’.

If patterns of absence/poor punctuality are recognised, you may be asked to attend an initial review meeting with one of our Senior Attendance Champions, either myself, Mr Ransom or Mr Utteridge and/or your child’s class teacher. Absences we will be looking at may include:

• Patterns of regular absences i.e. Fridays/Mondays
• Sibling absences, particularly leading up to or after school holidays
• Regular absences for the same/similar illnesses i.e. regular sickness/stomach ache/fever
• Reoccuring medical/dental appointments with no supporting evidence provided 
• Regular lateness. If your child arrives after 8.45am they will be marked late and after 9am they are considered absent for that session and will receive an unauthorised absence mark.

Similarly, if you have any concerns or worries about your child’s attendance that you would like to discuss or bring to our attention, we are always happy to meet with you. Working together as a home/school team is extremely important inline with our 24/25 Parent Charter

Alongside the school absence monitoring, the Cheshire East Council Attendance and Children Out of School (ACOOS) team will be remotely reviewing our school absence data via the Department for Education and identifying pupil absences in excess of 15 days.  Depending on the reason for these absences, the ACOOS team may make contact with the school and/or parents to discuss this further

Requests for term time absence

Whilst we appreciate that the cost of family holidays outside of term time are more expensive, in line with Government and Local Authority guidance, we will NOT be authorising any requests for leave of absence for term time holidays unless there are exceptional circumstances. Requests should be made in writing/email or via the school app where possible, at least 4 weeks in advance, but no later than 2 weeks before the requested absence. Each request will be considered individually and you may be asked to provide additional evidence to support your request if required. If your request is declined and you still chose to take your child out of school, we may request for a Fixed Penalty Notice to be issued. This will be actioned by the Cheshire East Attendance and Children Out of School team.

Fixed Penalty Notice for term time absence

Following the introduction of the new National Framework for Penalty Notices, from the start of the next academic year, there will be a change to the current guidance for the issue of Fixed Penalty Notices. 

Penalty notices may be issued for the following:

• 5 or more consecutive days of unauthorised absence for term time leave. 
• Where term time absences are being requested on multiple occasions for less than the 5 day threshold to avoid a fixed penalty notice.
• If your child has been reported absent due to illness but we have reason to believe they are, or have been, away on holiday i.e. if your child tells us they are going or have been away, they arrive back in school with a sun tan, we make a house call during the absence and no one is home.
• 10 unauthorised sessions in a 10 week period. An unauthorised session is where no reason for absence is provided, your child is late after the close of registration (9am) or where you have taken an absence without prior notice or permission.