Attendance

Attendance

Rhian Austin Attendance Lead/Assistant Headteacher
Lauretta Steward Attendance Officer	Alison Parry-Jones Attendance Officer

 

Every day of learning matters at Christ the Word Catholic School. It is our aim that all pupils attend regularly and on time to reap the full benefits from the school’s provisions and reach their full potential. As a school we want to support you in ensuring your child attends school everyday.  If you are struggling please let us know so that we can help.  We work closely with the Local Authority Attendance Team, Health and Family Link to support families who are struggling with their child’s attendance.

 

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.  Please phone the office on 01745 352999 before 8.30 if possible.
• You will need to phone the school every day if your child is ill for more than one day
• 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 8.45am, all pupils are expected to be in school and ready for registration at this time.
• If your child arrives after registration closes at 9.15am, they will receive a U code on the register which will have a negative effect on their overall attendance.
• If your child has not been marked in for morning registration, the school will contact parents/carers by 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.

 

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:

A list of all term and holiday dates can be found on the Term Dates page. Parents and carers need to ask for permission for planned absences, including holidays during term time, by completing an ‘absence request form’. This needs to be returned to school before any absence.

Christ the Word Catholic School 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 holidays can result in a Fixed Penalty Notice.

Communication is key

Communicating reasons for absence is extremely important, and it is the responsibility of the parent/carer to do this. This can help avoid potential fines (FPN) as well ensuring that school can help support you and your child if needs be.

What is a Fixed Penalty Notice? (FPN)

If your child has had 10 unauthorised sessions in school (equivalent to 5 days of school), meaning that no reason has been given for 5 days absence, a warning letter may be be sent out following this, if the absences continue and no reason is provided by parent/carer and this reaches 20 sessions of absence (10 days) a fine may be issued to the parent/carer, this also includes unauthorised holiday requests. Ways to avoid this escalation is to speak openly and honestly with the school and attendance team and work in partnership with the school to encourage good attendance.