Attendance

Good school attendance has been shown to give your child the opportunity of success and helps them develop skills for life. Missing school damages children’s learning and can have an impact on the examination grades they achieve.

Your child should attend every school day at Headley Park unless there is an unavoidable cause such as illness. They should never miss school for reasons like shopping, birthdays or because you need to wait for a repair person.

We know that you will want to share with us the commitment to ensure your child has the best possible attendance.

Lateness

It is important that all children arrive by 8:50am which is the start of the School day. Children who arrive late can often:

• Miss important parts of the lesson
• Find it embarrassing entering the class when the lesson has already started
• Disrupt other pupils learning

We appreciate that travel or home arrangements can cause the occasional difficulty in getting to school but it is important that every effort is made to get pupils to school in good time.

What to do if my child is ill

We will be expecting your child to be attending school so if they are ill or unable to attend for an unavoidable reason:

• Please contact the school office before the start of the school day.

It is best to telephone so that we can speak to you to understand what the problem is and when your child is likely to return. Telephone 0117 903511. The office is open from 8am until 4pm each school day, at other times you can leave a message on the answer machine.

• Keep us informed daily about your child’s illness so that we know when to expect them back.

Illnesses effecting attendance

It is not necessary to keep your child home if they are just feeling a little unwell. Let the School office or the class teacher know and we will keep an eye on them. Please make sure we have your correct contact details in case we need to speak to you during the day.

If your child has been sick or has suffered from diarrhoea they must not be sent in to school for a full 48 hours after the last incident. This period of absence is to avoid the illness being transferred to other pupils in the school.

Your doctor will advise you what precautions to take if your child is suffering from an infectious illness where it is advisable not to be in contact with other people.

Medical appointments

Please try and make any appointments for your child outside the school day or, if not possible, at a time that minimises the time they miss. We ask that you show the office a copy of your appointment so that we can update the school record.

Requests for absence

If you want your child to be absent from school for a reason other than absence/medical appointment it is necessary to complete a “Request for Absence” form so that it can be considered. The form is available here.

The Department for Education have specified that Schools can only authorise absence for “exceptional” circumstances and so holidays in term time will not normally be authorised. Guidance is provided in the Bristol City Council Education Welfare leaflet “Every Day Counts”. A copy of this leaflet is available here together with a description of Penalty Notices that can be issued.

A School day is broken down into two sessions, morning and afternoon. An absence must be recorded in the register if your child misses one of the sessions or is late after the register is closed. In the morning the register closes at 9:15am.

The Department for Education counts attendance below 90% of available sessions as “persistent absence and therefore we will contact you if your child’s attendance falls below this level to look at ways to help and support you.