Attendance & Punctuality

'Being in school and having the best attendance possible underpins all the many benefits of school for your child, such as their learning, wellbeing and wider development'

We follow the 'Working Together to Improve School Attendance' Guidance as set by the DFE.  You can find more information in the links below:

• Guide for parents on school attendance (DfE)
• School Attendance and Support (SCC)

Good school attendance brings enormous benefits to individual pupils, their families, schools and the community as a whole. Without good attendance, levels of attainment suffer and opportunities are missed to obtain maximum benefit from education.

Being in school every day that it is open, is important to your child's achievement, wellbeing and their wider development. Here's what the data shows:

• Pupils with higher attainment at KS2 had lower levels of absence over the key stage compared to those with lower attainment.
• Generally, the higher the percentage of sessions missed across the key stage at KS2, the lower the level of attainment at the end of the key stage.
• Among pupils with no missed sessions over KS2, 83.9% achieved the expected standard compared to 40.2% of pupils who were persistently absent.

Persistent absence and lateness will affect a child's achievement and progress in school. When you register your child at school, you have a legal duty to ensure your child attends that school regularly and on time. It's important to set the expectation of good attendance right from the beginning of school so children grow up with good habits'. There are only a small number of circumstances where missing a school day is permitted. 

When can my child be absent from school?

Your child must attend every day that the school is open unless: 

• Your child is too ill to attend that day.
• You have asked in advance and been given permission by the school for your child to be absent on that day due to exceptional circumstances.
• Your child cannot attend school on that day because it is a day you are taking part in religious observance
• Your local authority is responsible for arranging your child’s transport to school and it is not available on that day or has not been provided yet; or
• You are a gypsy/traveller family with no fixed abode, and you are required to travel for work that day meaning your child cannot attend their usual school. In most circumstances, however, your child is required to attend another school temporarily during such absences.

What do I need to do if my child needs to be absent from school for one of those reasons?

You should contact school as early as possible to explain why.

• Telephone 02380 767988
• Email info@vermontschool.co.uk 

For safeguarding reasons, it is really vital that you let us know each day your child is absent. If we do not hear from you, we will contact you on the first morning of their absence to check the whereabouts of your child. This is followed up by an email.  In some cases, if we are worried or have not had a response, we will follow our school procedure, this will be a home visit and then, if necessary, inform Children's Services and the Police, who can do a welfare check on a child at our request.

Is my child too ill for school?

Children with a mild illness will often be well enough to attend school - for example if they have a cough, or cold without a temperature. The NHS guidance is my child too ill for school? - is designed to support parents in their decision making about mild illness. 

How is attendance recorded?

There are several codes in use for recording attendance and absences. There are two sessions each day, morning and afternoon and each session is recorded with a code. Here are the most common codes used: 

M - Appointment with a doctor/dentist etc 

I - Genuine Illness

G - Unauthorised Leave of Absence 

O - Unauthorised Absence 

L - Late before the register closes 

U - Late after the register closes - This counts as unauthorised absence. 

It really is essential that you let us know the reason for absence so we can code accurately.

What if my child has a medical or dentist appointment?

Medical appointments, should where possible, be made outside school hours.  When this is unavoidable, your child should be in school for the remainder of the school day, whether before or/and after the appointment.  Supporting evidence of the appointment should be given to the school office.

Can we go on holiday during term time?

There is no legal entitlement for holidays of leaves of absence during term time. Parents should plan their holidays around school breaks and avoid requesting leaves of absence for holidays unless unavoidable. 

A leave of absence can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.  Holidays are not deemed to be exceptional circumstances and therefore will not be authorised.  If you wish to take your child out of school for any purpose a Leave of Absence form should be submitted, stating the dates and reason for absence.  This is available to collect from the school office.  Any requests must be made in advance of the absence. The headteacher has the final say over whether to approve the request and how long your child can be absent. Their decision will be made after considering the specific facts and circumstances behind your request.

If permission is refused and you keep your child off school on the days requested, you are likely to be committing an offence and be issued a fixed penalty notice or be prosecuted by your local authority.

Does it matter if we are late?

Yes. Having good attendance also means being on time and not being late to school.  Every minute matters and the learning journey at Vermont School starts as soon as children arrive. Children who arrive late can feel embarrassed, left out and miss out on important introductions to lessons.  Punctuality is an essential life skill that needs to be taught from the very beginning.  School starts at 09:00am and registers close at 09:15am.  If your child arrives after 09:15am an adult is required to sign them in and to give a reason as to why the child is late.

What happens if we are worried about your child's school attendance?

We monitor all children's attendance very closely and will alert parents by letter or phone call when we notice children's attendance start to slip.  This could be due to Leave of absence or illness.  Here is a flow chart of actions taken:

Where can I get support to help my child attend school?

Children may struggle to attend school for a wide range of reasons.

If your child is struggling to attend school, school and your local authority also have responsibilities to help you to support your child’s attendance.

If the barriers to your child’s attendance are in school – such as they are having friendship problems – the school is responsible for working with you to help overcome the issues.

If the barriers to attendance you or your child are facing go beyond the remit of the school – such as a transport or a mental health issue – both the school and local authority have a responsibility to help you. This includes helping you to access the wider support you might need, for example from the school nurse or from local housing or transport teams. As part of the conversation you have with us, we will agree a set of joint actions we will all take to help overcome any barriers to attendance. This agreement will often include a commitment to refer or help you to access support services in exchange for an agreement from you to engage and take part in the support offered. We will also arrange mutually convenient times for you to come together to review these and your child’s progress. This agreement may take the form of an informal action plan, an early help plan, or a parenting contract – depending on the complexity of the reasons for your child’s absence.