Attendance at School

Attendance registers are completed at the start of each morning and afternoon session, with the information then being collated and analysed by our pupil services officer. Our school monitors each child’s level of attendance and holds meetings with parents when absence causes concern in line with The White Horse Federation attendance policy.

Absences in Term Time

Schools need to consider the potential negative impact that any absence can have on a child's academic progress, even if a child's attendance is good. Absence will affect the child’s progress at school and also disrupt the learning of other children when the child returns and tries to catch up with missed work.

Schools are unable to authorise a pupil being absent in term time unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as:

  • The child is unwell.
  • Medical appointments.
  • Unexpected family circumstances.
  • When a family needs to spend time together to support each other during or after a crisis.
  • Holidays for service personnel and other employees who are prevented from taking them outside of term time.

Absence for the following reasons will not usually be authorised:

  • Getting up late.
  • Availability of cheap holidays.
  • Availability of the desired accommodation.
  • Poor weather experienced in school holiday periods.
  • Overlap with the beginning or end of term.

Whatever the circumstances, schools are unlikely to authorise absence if:

  • The student already has poor attendance (less than 94%) and the education welfare service is involved.
  • The student would miss public examinations, such as key stage 2 SATs or similar.

Any child’s absence for a morning or afternoon for holiday will be recorded as a session of unauthorised absence unless special circumstances have been agreed in advance with the school.

If we record a child with 10 half-days (five days in total) of unauthorised absence in a school year, the school will have to send a form to the LA (Wiltshire Council) and a penalty notice will be issued to each parent of the child. This could result in a fine or court proceedings

Making a Request for Absence

It is important that parents discuss any plans for term time absence with the principal of the school before making any bookings. We have a form for such absence requests.

Parents should make their request after reading the policy outlined above.

Further Details or Clarification

In the first instance, parents should talk to their child’s school. Alternatively, the penalty notice officer can be contacted on 01722 438123.