School Attendance
As a school, we want to make each day count.
We want to see every child in school every day!
Why is attendance at school SO important?
Being in school every day ensures that your child has the best opportunity to make and build lasting friendships.
Every day attendance ensures that your child is taught the subject specifics at the same time as their peers-we don't want any child to feel left behind others.
Every day absent is lost learning time. Unnecessary time off means more learning time has been lost.
Lengthy periods of time off school for unauthorised absences can result in fines, but also impact your child's ability to come back into school and pick up where they left off with their friendships and learning.
Parents/Carers Legal Responsibility
Your legal responsibility as a parent or carer is to ensure that your child or children of school age receive a suitable full-time education, by either enrolling your child or children at a school or by making other arrangements such as elective home education.
Once enrolled at a school, it remains the parent or carer's legal responsibility to ensure that their child attends school regularly and arrives on time each day.
Parents and carers are encouraged to maintain good attendance by:
- making sure they and their child understand the importance of school attendance and punctuality and know what the school rules are
- talking to the school to discuss what support is available if your child has any issues which could affect attendance levels
- avoiding making appointments during the school day, and if this is unavoidable, provide evidence (where possible) that an appointment was attended - this will enable the school to authorise the absence
- not taking holidays during school term-time
If you're a parent of a child of statutory school age (between 5 and 16 years) who is registered at a school you are responsible for making sure they attend school regularly.
What do I do if my child is not well enough to come to school?
Parents/carers should contact the school on the first day of their child’s absence.
This should be done in the following way:
- Calling the School Office on 01773 811 465 and reporting the reason for absence. You may be asked for medical evidence.
- Leaving a message if the call is not answered and this will be picked up from 8.45am by Mrs James.
We ask that you don’t send Dojos to class teachers informing them of absences as staff members are preparing the classroom and their lessons for the day prior to 8.30am and will not always be able to access Dojo and read this message.
When parents/carers notify us of their child’s absence it is important that they provide us with details of the reason for their absence. All absences are recorded on the register as either authorised or unauthorised. It is important that we receive accurate information from parents with reasons for the child’s absence. This information is used by the Headteacher to determine whether the absence is authorised or unauthorised. Where a child has been absent without explanation we send a letter requesting the reason for absence to parents/carers to complete. If this letter is not completed and returned by the specified date then the absence will be recorded as an unauthorised absence (Attendance Code O).
Derbyshire County Council Attendance Information
Click the link to find out more about school attendance in Derbyshire Schools.