Your Responsibilities

Parents have a legal duty to ensure that their children attend school regularly.  

Illness

Please telephone the school office on (01771) 726621 by 8.45 a.m. if your child is not able to attend school due to illness. An answer phone is in operation and you may leave details of your child’s name, class teacher and reason for absence. Please ensure that a phone call is made so that the school knows that your child is safe and secure.  We have a duty of care to each and every one of our children, including knowing why they are not in school, therefore, if we have not been notified of an absence we will telephone home that morning.

Continued illness does not need to be reported daily but we would appreciate hearing from you every third  day, unless a long term illness has already been reported.

If your child requires the school to administer medicine orally during the school day, parents/carers should take the medicine to the school office and complete the medicine authorisation form.

Please report contagious illnesses straight away.

Diarrhoea and/or Vomiting:

In line with the recommendations of Public Health England we advise parents that if  their child develops diarrhoea/and or vomiting whilst at school to please ensure that they are collected promptly. To help prevent the spread of infection within schools, all children with diarrhoea and/or vomiting should stay away from school until 48 hours after the diarrhoea and/or vomiting has stopped.

Please avoid booking holidays during term time

In line with Department for Education national changes, parents should not take pupils on holiday during the 38 weeks of the school year.  It does not give parents the right to take any holiday during term time.  However, it does permit schools to grant permission to take authorised absence in exceptional circumstances. Holidays can only be granted during term time in exceptional circumstances.  For example:

  • Significant family events
  • Traumatic circumstances

Mrs Barnes will consider every request individually, but the following would not fit the criteria:

  • Relatives coming to visit
  • Cheaper holidays during term time
  • Family day trips
  • Visiting family/friends who have
    different term dates or holidays

What is the effect on your child?

We recognise that sometimes circumstances make absence from school unavoidable.  However, it is important that parents consider the possible impact of missing school.  Your children may fall behind their classmates, may miss important class work and may find that relationships with classmates suffer.