Attendance

Medical Absences

When a child will be absent from school due to illness, please ring, write or send a message on the first day of absence. There is no need to contact us again unless the absence will be protracted. A brief note is required when your child returns to school so that the cause of absence can be noted on the register. Please ensure your child is fully fit before returning to school.

Leave of  Absence

We recognise that positive behaviour and good attendance are central to raising standards and pupil attainment.

Schools are unable to authorise absence; leave can be requested only in exceptional circumstances, which has been documented by the Department for Education. The School Attendance Policy has been updated in line with the latest guidance from Birmingham City Council. If leave is requested for exceptional circumstances an absence request form can be obtained from the school office.

For clarity, (from November 2015) where a request for leave of absence has been made and the school has sent written notification to parents that the absence will be unauthorised, a penalty notice will be issued where the trigger of 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence is met.

In all other cases of unauthorised absence accrued over time a warning letter will be issued by the Education Welfare Service prior to a penalty notice. The trigger for a warning letter will be at least 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence.

Any child with less than 90% attendance, whether authorised, unauthorised or through illness is now classed by the Department for Education as persistently absent and may require an action plan to improve attendance.

The legislation covers children of school age, therefore Reception onwards.

Illness at School

Although we do the best we can, there is no really comfortable, quiet place for children to rest in school.  The normal cuts and grazes resulting from accidents at play are dealt with in school, but in cases where we suspect illness or injury, parents are contacted and pupils are cared for until someone arrives to collect them.

Please ensure that we have a telephone number where we can contact you in such cases, it is important to let the School know if these details should change.

Persistently Absent

Birmingham Education Authority does monitor all schools’ attendance figures and action is taken where a child’s attendance falls below 90% – this is classed as being persistently absent from school.

If your child is too ill to attend then please telephone the school every morning before 8:30 a.m. unless they have been vomiting or have diarrhoea, in this instance you will only need to let us know once and your child will not be allowed to return back into school until they are fully cleared of the virus. This is usually 48 hours as advised by the School Nursing Team. 

We do have an answer phone, so please leave a message.

Collecting your child early from school

If you need to collect your child early from school on a regular basis then you MUST  arrange an appointment with the Headteacher first.

We strongly encourage that children are not collected early from school unless they have a medical appointment , an emergency situation or have an arrangement which has been authorised by the Head Teacher. 

Proof will be required for all medical appointments.

Educating your Child

You must make sure your child gets a full-time education that meets their needs (for example if they have special educational needs).

You can send your child to school or educate them yourself.

Children must get an education between the school term after their 5th birthday and the last Friday in June in the school year they turn 16.

You will be contacted by either:

• the school – if your child is enrolled in school and does not turn up (even if they are only absent for a day);
• the council’s Education Welfare Officer – if they think your child is not getting a suitable education at home.

You can be prosecuted if you do not give your child an education. You will normally get warnings and offers of help from the local council before any legal proceedings commence.