At Friars we have an attendance target of 97%.

Absence from or lateness to school:

• 

  When your child is unwell please notify the school as soon as possible on the same day that your child will not be at school.

• If your child has not been marked for morning registration, the school will contact parents/carers by call/text by 10am. If you do receive a message or text it would be appreciated if you could reply by text or by phone as soon as possible.
• If the illness lasts longer than two days please keep the school informed as to what is happening and we can, if appropriate provide work or suggest ways that your child can learn whilst they are not at school.
• Please note that if the authenticity of an illness is in doubt the school can request parents to provide medical evidence to support the illness, this evidence can take the form of copies of prescriptions, appointment cards etc.
• School starts at 8.55am, all pupils are expected to be in school and ready for registration at this time.
• If your child arrives late for school, please ensure that the Reception staff are made aware as to why your child is late.

It is our aim that pupils attend regularly and on time to reap the full benefits from the schools provisions and reach their full potential.

We work closely with the Local Authority Early Help Team. They visit the school termly to support with attendance. If pupil attendance falls below 90% or there is poor punctuality parents are expected to attend a meeting with the Headteacher and Inclusion Manager to ensure improvements are made.

Appointments:

• Please try to make dental and non-urgent/routine doctors’ appointments before or after school, although the school appreciates that this is not always possible particularly with orthodontist/hospital appointments.
• If you have to make an appointment during school hours please try to make the time missed from school as short as possible.

Holidays during term time up-date:

Changes to the 2006 Education Act took effect from 1 September 2013. This means that Friars Primary will not authorise any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. These requests must be made in advance.

This will mean that any request made for a holiday will automatically be declined and student’s attendance record will be marked as ‘unauthorised holiday’ should the holiday still take place. Unauthorised holiday requests are forwarded to the LA penalty charge notice panel who will decide whether to impose a fine. Please ensure your children return from holiday for the start of the school terms.

The LAW:

Under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 parents of a child of compulsory school age are under a legal duty to ensure the regular attendance of that child at the school where he/she is a registered pupil. Failure to fulfil this duty may result in the Local Education Authority prosecuting the parents. If found guilty of the offence, each parent could be fined up to £2,500 and/or sentenced to 3 months imprisonment. The parent may alternatively be subject to a fixed-penalty fine of £60.

Further guidance about irregular attendance, unauthorised term time leave and penalty notices can be found in the link below:

• Penalty-notices.-Irregular-attendance-and-term-time-leave-advice-for-parents