North Leigh C of E Primary School

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Parent Information: Attendance

Attendance
At North Leigh we believe that regular attendance is the best way of making sure your child makes progress and does well. When children are absent they miss not only the teaching provided, but are less well prepared for lessons on their return. They miss important information for future lessons and this can impact on progress, attainment and self-esteem.

Every school day counts
Days off school add up to lost learning!
North Leigh C of E Primary School

Absence
There are two types of absence: authorised and unauthorised.

Authorised absence includes:

A morning or afternoon session away from school for a good reason such as illness
Medical / Dental appointments (but we hope that parents will try to make these outside school time)
Emergencies or unavoidable events (e.g. family bereavements).

For all of these an explanation for the absence from the child’s parent / carer is required.

Unauthorised absence includes:

Parents keeping children away from school unnecessarily
Truancy
Unexplained absence
Persistent lateness
Shopping trips
Day trips and holidays in school time.

Absences of this type are recorded as unauthorised on the school register.

Sickness
If your child is ill and cannot attend school then you should inform the office via email or telephone by 9am on the first day of absence and give some indication of the expected day of return.

We recognise that there will be occasions when children are too unwell to attend school, but ask that parents do not keep children off unnecessarily. Remember if your child is too unwell to cope with the school day we will always contact you.

Please also be aware that HPA Guidance states that children suffering from digestive illness should be kept away from school for 48 hours following the last bout of vomiting or diarrhoea.

Holidays in Term Time
From September 2013, The Department for Education made amendments to the regulations with regard to school attendance and headteachers in all schools will no longer be allowed to authorise leave of absence for any family holidays. From September 2013, headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances and the number of days authorised for this would be determined by the headteacher (DFE Guidance June 2013).

Any leave of absence requests can only be authorised by the headteacher in exceptional circumstances. Should parents take their child on holiday regardless, then this will be counted as unauthorised absence.

To apply for a leave of absence, please complete and return the form below to the school office.

Request for leave of absence form: this download is available as MS Word (.doc) and Adobe pdf:
Application Form for Leave Due to Exceptional Circumstances
Application Form for Leave Due to Exceptional Circumstances

Statutary Information re Penalty Notices (unauthorised absences)
Request for leave of absence in exceptional circumstances form
Request for leave of absence in exceptional circumstances form

Punctuality
Parents are responsible for getting children to school on time. Arriving late, even by only a few minutes, means children have an unsettled start to the day and their learning and that of other children is disrupted.

Minutes late during the school year	Equals days worth of teaching lost in a year
5 Minutes	3.4 Days
10 Minutes	6.9 Days
15 Minutes	10.3 Days
20 Minutes	13.8 Days
30 Minutes	20.7 Days

At North Leigh our school day starts at 8.40am, please ensure that children arrive punctually.

North Leigh C of E Primary School
Park Road
North Leigh
Witney
OX29 6SS
01993 881525
email office.3128@north-leigh.oxon.sch.uk