Attendance
Regular school attendance is imperative if children are to make the most of the educational opportunities available to them. Irregular school attendance can lead to educational disadvantage and can place young people at risk. Children with poor attendance have increasing and repeated gaps in their knowledge and understanding which leads to poor academic achievement throughout their education.
The school is committed to ensuring high attendance through a whole-school culture and ethos that values good attendance, including:
- Promoting good attendance and punctuality
- Reducing absence, including persistent (>10%) and severe absence (>50%)
- Ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled
- Acting early to address patterns of absence
- Building strong relationships with families to ensure pupils have the support in place to attend school
School starts at 8:40 for all pupils, and morning registration is at 8:40 for Nursery and 8:55 for pupils in Reception to Year 6 (with any pupil arriving after this time being marked as late).
A pupil who arrives late but before 9.25 will be marked as late, using the appropriate code. Pupils arriving after this time will be marked as an unauthorised absence using the code U.
We believe that a pupil arriving late will not receive the best outcomes. Arriving late can be unsettling for the pupil and may cause classroom disruption. Parents who bring children to school persistently late will be invited to attend a meeting with the headteacher.
The pupil’s parent/carer should notify the school of the reason for the absence on the first day of an unplanned absence by 8.55am or as soon as practically possible by calling the school office.
Authorised and unauthorised absence
Attending a medical or dental appointment will be counted as authorised as long as the pupil’s parent/carer notifies the school. Parents/carers are requested to make medical and dental appointments out of school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, the pupil should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary. The pupil’s parent/carer must also apply for other types of term-time absence as far in advance as possible of the requested absence.
The School Attendance (Pupil Regulations) (England) Regulations 2024 state that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances’. We believe that leave of absence should be avoided if at all possible as it can have a damaging effect on a student’s education and overall achievement. However, it is recognised that on occasions there may be extenuating or compassionate reasons that justify such leave. Only in exceptional circumstances, where sufficient evidence is provided to substantiate the circumstances, will any absence from school be authorised.
Any request should be submitted as soon as it is anticipated and, where possible, at least 2 weeks before the absence using the leave of absence request form. The request must include the reason why it is necessary to take leave in term time, including any exceptional circumstances that apply, including evidence such as a medical certificate or letter from employers.
Valid reasons for authorised absence include (not exhaustive list):
- Medical/dental appointments
- Funeral of family members – using discretion about the duration of absence around travel and funeral arrangements
- Religious observance – where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s parents belong. If necessary, the school will seek advice from the parents’ religious body to confirm whether the day is set apart
- Traveller pupils travelling for occupational purposes – this covers Roma, English and Welsh gypsies, Irish and Scottish travellers, showmen (fairground people) and circus people, bargees (occupational boat dwellers) and new travellers. Absence may be authorised only when a traveller family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school, but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision
- Sudden loss of housing through eviction or domestic violence
- Wedding of a family member – using discretion about the duration of absence around travel and wedding arrangements
- Attendance at music exams, secondary school tests, open days and induction days.
Any leave of absence that is not authorised may result in a Penalty Notice being issued and/or prosecution by the London Borough of Merton. The Penalty Notice carries a fine of £160.