Our school’s Attendance Policy is given to the parents of all new entrants and is available from our school office or our school’s website.
Attending school on a regular basis is the key to your child doing well at school. It will also give your child the opportunity to:
- make friends and feel included
- learn new things and develop many skills
- increase their confidence and self-esteem
- improve their social skills
If your child is away from school for any reason you should inform us by telephone giving the reason for the absence. You must inform us as soon as possible if your child is absent because of a contagious illness. The school operates a ‘First Day Response’ system where if a message has not been received on the first day of absence the School Office will contact you. If a reason is not received for your child’s absence the school office will text, email or telephone you. If a reason is still not received then the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. Once a reason for absence is received it is the school that decides whether to accept the reason and authorise the absence.
Parents should make routine Doctor’s and Dentist’s appointments outside of school time.
The Attendance Improvement Officer comes into our school twice a term to check the registers and may follow up any unexplained or unauthorised absences.
Penalty Notices
At Brookland Infant and Nursery School we expect parents to work with us to address attendance problems. If a pupil has at least 21 sessions (half day equals 1 session) unauthorised absence in a term (including unauthorised holidays), the headteacher may ask Hertfordshire County Council to issue a Penalty Notice. The penalty is £50 if paid within 28 days of receipt of the notice, rising to £100 if paid after 28 days but within 42 days. If the penalty is not paid Hertfordshire County Council may prosecute the parents for their child’s irregular attendance.
Requests for Leave of Absence in Term Time
The government made changes to the regulations and from September 2013 schools have not been able to authorise absence for family holiday except in very exceptional circumstances and only if authorisation has been sought in advance. The Headteacher/Governing Body will have discretion as to whether to authorise an absence and how many days will be authorised.
Parents should arrange family holidays during school holidays. Parents do not have an automatic right to withdraw their child from school.
If you think that exceptional circumstances apply A ‘Request for Absence’ form for this purpose is available in the school office. This should be completed and sent into school, if possible well in advance of the requested absence. You will be notified as to whether the absence has been authorised or not. The headteacher may want to meet with you to discuss your request.