Attendance

Attendance & Punctuality

Illness

Occasionally, pupils are too unwell to attend school. When deciding whether or not your child is too ill to attend school ask yourself:

• Is your child well enough to carry out the activities of the school day? If not, keep your child at home and consult your GP as appropriate.

• Does your child have a contagious condition that could be passed on to other children or school staff? If so, keep your child at home.

Please remember to contact school if your child is unable to attend so the absence can be authorised.

School phone number: 0151 647 7188. School email: schooloffice@thepriory.wirral.sch.uk

Absence due to Medical and Dental Appointments

Medical and Dental appointments should be made during school holidays or out of school hours. If this is not possible, please inform school and bring in the appointment card or letter, to be copied.

Unauthorised Attendances

School does not consider the following absences to be reasonable:

· Forgetting school term dates

· Over sleeping

· Arriving at school after the register has closed

· Day trips/ family outings

· Inclement weather

· Problems with uniform / clothing

· Birthdays and holidays

· Minor ailments

Absence due to family holidays or events

All requests for leave of absence from school, must be made to the headteacher using the request form available from the school office. Absence will be authorised only in exceptional circumstances including: religious festivals, terminal illness or holidays funded by charities. You will receive a written reply explaining whether the absence from school has been authorised.

Punctuality at the beginning of the day

Pupils should be in school every day, arriving promptly from 8.45. If pupils arrive late, they need to be signed in electronically at the school office. Arrival after 30 minutes late will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.

Education Penalty Notices

An Education Penalty Notice can be issued by the Local Authority for the following reasons:

• At least 10 sessions of absence (am or pm) within a period of no more than one term or two half terms following a warning letter from the Local Authority;

• At least 10 sessions (am or pm) of unauthorised leave of absence follow-ing a request for leave that was not an exceptional circumstance;

• Leave of absence taken during term time without parents requesting authorisation from the school;

• A pupil arrives after the registers have closed (marked with code ‘U’) on 10 or more separate occasions in any one term.

Fixed Penalty Notices will be issued by post. Payment of a Fixed Penalty Notice is £60 if paid within 21 days and £120 if paid after this time but within 28 days. Fixed Penalty Notices are restricted to 2 per pupil per parent in any academic year. The Local Authority retains any revenue from the Fixed Penalty Notices to cover enforcement costs. Non-payment of a Fixed Penalty Notice will result in the withdrawal of the notice and may trigger a prosecution of parents/carers by the Education Social Welfare Service under Section 444 Education Act 1996. There is no right of appeal by parents/carers against a penalty notice.

Rewards

Each week in our celebration assembly, classes that receive above 96% attendance will receive a piece for their Mr Potato Head. Once they have completed their potato, they will have a reward as a class. For children who have attendance over 96% for the half term, they will have an incredible opportunity such as den making, bouncy castles, meeting reptiles, going to the park and many more exciting adventures.