Attendance
Regular school attendance is essential as every school day is important. Every day lost can have a serious impact on your child’s attainment and overall progress in school. We expect children to attend school unless they are unwell.
Please consult term dates before planning family holidays. A request for an absence to be authorised will only be granted in exceptional circumstances, and holidays are not generally considered to be an exceptional reason. Parents taking their children out of school without authorisation may be subject to a local authority penalty notice. See school attendance policy and West Surrey Foundation attendance policy for further details.
If children are late they need to sign in at the school office, so that registers can be amended. If you need to collect your children for any reason during the school day you need to sign them out at the school office.
An Inclusion Officer (IO) visits the school each half term to monitor attendance, we will also contact them when there are concerns regarding attendance or lateness. Our Pastoral Support Lead will contact families where lateness is showing as an issue.
Lateness - Every Minute Counts
We believe that ‘Every Minute Counts! When a child arrives late at school, they miss teacher instructions, interventions and lesson time; and their learning begins to suffer. Children may also feel embarrassed at having to enter the classroom late. The table below shows how frequent lateness can add up to a considerable amount of learning being lost. This can seriously disadvantage children and disrupt the learning of others. Please help your children to be punctual.
Minutes Late vs Learning days lost per year:
5 minutes = 3 days
10 minutes = 6.5 days
15 minutes = 10 days
20 minutes = 13 days
30 minutes = 19 days
Missed Days = Missed Opportunities
We continually focus on the importance of attendance and punctuality to ensure that your child has the best possible start in life. Attendance has a direct link to attainment; there is clear evidence that poor attendance has a very negative impact on children’s learning and progress at school. If a child is not in school regularly, they are not fully accessing the curriculum and learning opportunities available to them. Children are required to attend school for 190 days each year. There are 175 days for holidays and other activities. We expect attendance rates to be 95% and above.
Changes to Penalty fees for unauthorised absences from 19th August 2024
Attendance and absence letter to parents - October 2024