St Mary's C of E Primary School is committed to providing a full and efficient education to all pupils and embraces the concept of equal opportunities for all. 

For a child to reach their full educational achievement, a high level of school attendance is essential. We will consistently work towards a goal of 100% attendance for all children. Every opportunity will be used to convey to pupils and their parents or carers the importance of regular and punctual attendance including e.g. newsletters and end of term reports. 

Registration takes place at 8.50am and 12.50pm. To be on time, children are required to be on the playground at these times, when the school bell is rung.

Attendance is monitored on a daily basis. We have a robust attendance policy and we encourage parents to read it so that they have a clear understanding of what responsibilities they have to their child’s education and how the school will manage concerns about poor attendance and punctuality.

We ask that ALL Parents/Carers inform the school if their child is going to be absent at their earliest possible convenience. It is helpful to have clear reasons for absence and not to just say ‘sick’ or ‘ill’. Messages can be left via Parent Mail, on the school’s answer phone or by emailing the school office any time of the day or night. If we do not receive any communication from parents / carers about why their child is absent then we will send a text via our ‘Truancy Call’ system or call families directly. We expect ALL parents to respond to this. Please understand that if we are unable to account for the whereabouts and well being of our children, it becomes a safeguarding issue and we have duties and responsibilities to report absences of ‘missing’ children to authorities. So it is vital that parents let us know when and why their children are absent from school. 

We have put together a fact sheet for parents on managing minor childhood illness and we hope you will find this helpful. 

Managing minor illness in children

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When making medical/dental appointments, every effort must be made to ensure that these appointments are outside school hours but we acknowledge that this is not always possible. If your child has a medical or emergency dental appointment then please inform the school office asap and show your appointment card or letter. 

For all other absence requests that do not relate to illness, such as holidays or time off for other important reasons, please complete an absence request form in advance. The Head Teacher will consider your request and make a decision as to whether or not the absence will be authorised. Please note holidays in term time will not be authorised but we still require you to complete the absence request form. Reasons for absence have to be reasonable and the Headteacher has the final decision as to whether pupils are absent with or without authorisation.Irregular attendance or punctuality will be both challenged and supported by the issuing of Parenting Contracts requiring parents and carers to ensure children attend school more regularly. Failure to meet these expectations may lead to Penalty Notices and Prosecution under the terms of our Attendance Policy and the Local Authority Attendance Team.

Attendance Policy