Attendance

The Village School takes a whole-school approach to maintaining excellent attendance. It is the joint responsibility of parents/carers, pupils, and all staff members to ensure that children are attending school as they should be. We endeavour to work with families to ensure that any problems or circumstances that may lead to poor attendance are given the right attention and appropriate support.  

 These attendance protocols are supported by our policies on Safeguarding, Anti-bullying, and Proactive Approaches.  

The threshold for persistent absenteeism is set at 10%. This is based on evidence that links persistent absenteeism to children not attaining their potential and it has an ongoing impact on their progress in school. This is a very tight target linked to holidays in terms of time and indiscriminate days off.

The guidance for issuing penalty notices for unauthorised absence states that Penalty Notices can only be issued in cases where a pupil of compulsory school age has been absent from school, and the absence has not been authorised.

Or

Where a pupil arrives persistently late.

The minimum level of absence is 10 or more school sessions (5 days) in a 100-day period.

Prosecution under the Education Act should be considered an alternative where 20 or more sessions of unauthorised absence occur. Therefore, it is essential that all requests for ‘leave of absence’ are made well in advance to enable time to check reasons, evidence, and previous attendance information. Authorisation will not be given unless there are extenuating reasons for the time out of school.

The guidance is intended to be used in tackling parentally condoned absence where it is reasonable to expect that a parent can ensure the child’s regular attendance but is not willing to take responsibility for doing so.

Please help us and your child by ensuring their attendance remains above 96%.

The school policy and protocols meet the requirements of the Department for Education (DfE) 's school attendance guidance and refer to the DfE’s statutory guidance on school attendance parental responsibility measures.  

Working together to improve school attendance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

ABSENCE

Illness:

If your child is going to be absent from school due to illness, then please inform the office before 8.30am in the morning and let us know why your child is going to be absent and when you expect them to return. If your child is off for more than one day, we must still be informed each day of your child’s absence until they return to school.

Please call by telephone:  0300 303 0610

Or email:  tvs-office@compasslp.co.uk

Or via the Arbor App

Please note that in instances of sickness and/or diarrhoea, your child should be kept off school for 48 hours, timed from the last occurrence.

Medical Appointments

If you need to take your child out of school for any length of time to attend a medical appointment, then the school office must be notified in advance. We also ask to see the letter confirming the date and time of the medical appointment. Please ensure that, where possible, medical appointments are made outside of school time.

Medication

If your child requires medication to be administered during the school day, parents are responsible for informing the school. The school can only administer medications that are prescribed. They must come in original packaging that is correctly labelled with the child’s name, the name of the medication, the dose to be administered, and the time it should be administered. Parents will be required to complete a consent form, and they are responsible for informing the school of any changes to the medication.

If your child requires emergency medication (buccal midazolam, inhalers, adrenaline autoinjectors etc.) they must have these in school at all times. When this medication expires, the school will contact you to send a new supply. If a child does not have their emergency medication in school, they will not be able to attend school.

Term Time Leave Requests

If you are taking your child out of school for a holiday, or any other event, then an absence request form must be filled in prior to the absence. Term Time Leave Request Form please download below.

Please note that it is not school policy to authorise any holiday during the school term. Absences will be recorded as ‘unauthorised’ on the register. We check attendance every half term and monitor those children who fall below 95%. First, we will telephone you to discuss attendance concerns and notify you by letter, asking you to make an appointment with the Headteacher. If attendance continues to be of concern, we will discuss it with the Education Welfare Officer,  who will advise on further action as required.