At Meryfield Community Primary School we are committed to promoting excellent levels of attendance and punctuality, enabling our pupils to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. Attending school and receiving a good education will help your child to have the best possible start in their life. Children who do not attend school regularly may:

Fall behind in their work

Find it difficult to make friends

Become unhappy at school

All absences are authorised at the discretion of the Headteacher. If the Headteacher feels the reason given is not sufficient then there is no obligation to authorise the absence, even if the reason is due to illness. Therefore your child will have unauthorised mark(s) on their record.

How We Calculate Attendance

School count each day as two sessions, one morning and one afternoon as registers are taken twice a day. In a week this makes a total of ten sessions, children must attend all ten sessions each week to achieve 100% attendance.

Lateness

Pupils can arrive to school from 8.40am, but must be in class ready for registration by 8.50am. Any children arriving to school after 8.50am must enter the school via the school office. Children must be accompanied by a parent/carer so the child can be signed in and a reason must be provided for the lateness. Failure to accompany your child to school could lead to an unnecessary phone call home.

Registers close at 8.50am and any child arriving to school after this time, but before 9.20am will be marked in the register as late.

For any children who arrive to school after 9.20am will be marked in the register with a ‘U’ code, which is an unauthorised mark for that session. If there are 15 or more unauthorised sessions then this could lead to a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued (a fine of £60 per school age child). Please refer to our attendance policy for further details.

Regular poor punctuality is not acceptable and if there are reasons for this then please speak to Mrs Gage (Head Teacher).

Illness

The main reason children are absent from school is due to illness. Keeping your child healthy so they are able to attend school every day is important. Parents can  help by ensuring their children taking exercise, get enough sleep and eat a healthy diet.

Most children with mild illness can attend school providing that they feel well enough. Use good common sense when deciding whether your child needs to stay at home. Work on the basis that sick children belong at home and well children belong at school. Often coughs and colds are not a reason for your child not to attend school. Please remember early morning aches and pains often pass, so don’t keep your child at home ‘just in case’ when they could be learning in class.

If your child is unwell and unable to attend school please notify the school office by 9am on the first morning of the absence.

Medical Appointments

We ask where possible that medical appointments are made outside of school hours, however, we do understand that sometimes this is not possible. To avoid any absent marks on your child’s record please bring your child to school before and after the appointment if time allows eg. If a medical appointment is at 11am then we expect your child to be in school for morning registration and then after the appointment where possible, as whole day of absence will not be authorised.

If your child does have to leave during the day then, we must have a request from you and for safety reasons your child must be collected from the school office. If your child is returning back to school then they must be accompanied by an adult.

Holidays during Term time

As many of you will already be aware, we are unable to authorise holidays during term time. The school term dates are available on the website for you to view and plan your holidays accordingly. If for any reason you would like to request for leave during term time then please could this be made in writing and handed in to the school office prior to your trip. The Head Teacher will then consider your request and respond to you in writing. A Fixed Penalty Notice could be issued if there are 15 or more unauthorised sessions (please see our Attendance Policy for further details).