We expect all children on roll to attend every day, when the academy is in session, as long as they are fit and healthy enough to do so. We do all we can to encourage the children to attend, and to put in place appropriate procedures. We believe that the most important factor in promoting good attendance is development of positive attitudes towards learning. To this end, we strive to make our academy a happy and rewarding experience for all children. We will reward those children whose attendance is very good. We will also make the best provision we can for those children who, for whatever reason, are prevented from coming to academy.

If your child is going to be absent from school, please inform us by ringing the school office on the first day of absence and every subsequent day. 

The academy day starts at 8:55am and all children are expected to have arrived by this time. Gates are open from 8:40am and children are welcome to arrive from that time. Any child arriving after 8:55am will be recorded as being late. Arrivals after 9:30am will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.

The first part of the day is an important social time for children, a chance for children, teachers and parents to talk and for children to make choices about lunchtimes. Learning also starts from the moment the children walk in, and those who are late will miss learning, time to read to an adult, and interventions.

If your child is late to school, they must be accompanied to the office and signed in on the sign-in screen.  Please note that any child arriving after 9:30 will not be able to order a hot dinner that day as orders will have already been sent to the kitchen.

Changes to the issuing of Penalty Notices due to unauthorised leave in term time

In February this year the DfE published Working together to improve school attendance – which is now statutory guidance. The changes to the law are introduced through the Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 and will come into effect from 19 August 2024.

This means that any unauthorised leave taken after this date will be dealt with under the new Regulations. i.e. If a parent books a holiday now to take place after the 19th August 2024, they will be dealt with in line with when the actual unauthorised leave from school occurs, not the date of the booking.

The changes to the regulations are significant so it is important to ensure that you understand them, so that you can consider the consequences before taking leave in term time.

New two penalty notice limit in a three-year period

The first Penalty Notices for leave in term time will increase to £160 per parent per child but can be reduced to £80 per parent per child if paid within 21 days.

A three-year rolling period starts for parents when the first penalty notice is issued to them after the 19th August 2024.

If a second penalty notice is issued within three years of the first penalty notice, then this will be at a fixed rate of £160 per parent per child, with no reduction for early payment.

A third penalty notice cannot be issued within the three-year period; therefore, the county council will deal with any further unauthorised leave through prosecution in the Magistrates Court. If found guilty the potential fine is up to £1000.

National threshold for issuing penalty notices.

The new national threshold for issuing penalty notices has been set at 10 sessions (5 school days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. However the local authority retains the discretion to issue penalty notices before the threshold is met. For example if the local authority believes parents are deliberately avoiding the national threshold by taking several term time holidays of less than 5 days, or for repeated absence for birthdays or other family events. When school becomes aware that the threshold has been met, we are expected in every case to notify the local authority