There will be occasions when your child falls ill and cannot come to school. Can we urge you to make us aware by 9.00am; you can contact the school and leave a message by phone or alternatively email the school office. Please note that we will enquire about missing children as part of our safeguarding procedures.

Leave of Absence (including holidays in term time)

Parents and carers are strongly urged to avoid leave of absence from school during term time.  Should this be absolutely unavoidable then parents/carers need to fill in a form available from the school office and return it to the office prior to the absence.

UPDATE

The Local Authority have amended their Penalty Notice code of conduct to take into account the Supreme Court Judgement (Isle of Wight v John Platt) which clarified the meaning of “regular” school attendance as outlined in Section 444 Education Act 1996. Abbey College expect attendance at school to be 100%, unless there are exceptional or unavoidable reasons for absence, which would then be authorised.

In light of this judgement, the Local Authority have removed the criterion of “historical holiday taken” as one of the criteria used to issue a Penalty Notice.

In short, the change is that the Local Authority will now accept requests for Penalty Notices to be issued for single event absences of at least 3 consecutive school days or more where these absences are unauthorised because they are neither exceptional nor unavoidable. This will be implemented with effect from 1st September 2017.

Monitoring

Attendance is monitored by the Headteacher on a regular basis. An attendance rate of less than 85% will be closely monitored and parents will be informed when it falls below the percentage. The Education Welfare Officer (EWO) visits each term and pupils attending below 85% are discussed.

For further information please refer to our Attendance Policy on our school policies page.