Late/Absence Procedures

Regular attendance is important to your child's success, children are expected to come to school every day.

Attendance and achievement are closely linked and good habits, developed early in life do have an impact on levels of achievement.

If pupils are ill, parents/carers are expected to telephone the school before 9.45am on the first day of absence. We would ask that contact is always made by a parent/carer wherever possible, if we don’t hear from you and we therefore don’t know why your child is absent we will try to contact you.

Registration takes place at 8.45am for all children in the Reception to Year 6 classes, classroom doors are closed at 8.50am and children who arrive after this time must report to the school office.

Nursery sessions start at 9am for morning sessions and at 12.15pm for afternoon sessions. Children attending Nursery for 30 hours also start at 9am.

The NHS and Health Protection Agency issue guidance to schools and other childcare settings recommending the actions to be taken to prevent the spread of infection e.g. recommended periods to be kept away from school. Use the link below to view a copy of this guidance.

We will work with parents and the education welfare service to improve attendance where a pupil's attendance percentage falls below the school’s expectation and becomes a concern.

Leave/Holidays During Term Time

Any absence from school will have an impact on your child’s learning and as such leave/holidays during term are strongly discouraged, where this can’t be avoided you must complete a leave request form (available from the school office).

When considering requests for leave during term time, we will take into account the circumstances of your request, Local Authority guidelines (see below). You will be notified in writing of the schools decision.

Revised Code of Conduct for the issuing of Penalty Notices to parents for unauthorised pupil absence or leave of absence from school September 2019.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC) has now received Council Cabinet approval for changes to the Code of Conduct regarding the issuing of Penalty Notices which are to be implemented from the 2^nd September 2019. 

The changes to the Code of Conduct are:

The removal of the following criteria which Headteachers were required to consider under the Code of Conduct when assessing the merits of a leave of absence request during term time: 

• previous periods of leave of absence
• leave of absences taken in the first term
• exams and assessments
• employers letter(s)
• removal of school attendance target

Under the new Code, Penalty Notices can be issued if any of following three conditions applies:

• A pupil has accrued five or more consecutive days of unauthorised leave of absence (holiday in term time)
• If due to sporadic unauthorised absences, then, other than in specific circumstances, the liable parent/carer will receive a formal warning of the possibility of a Penalty Notice being issued and given a maximum of 15 school days to effect an improvement. If there are further absences within the 15 day monitoring period then a Penalty Notice may be issued
• An excluded pupil present in a public place without justification, during the school hours of the school day where the pupil is on roll, during the first five days of each fixed period or permanent exclusion.

In summary; fines will be issued for

i) any unauthorised holiday absence of 5 days or more.

ii) sporadic unauthorised absence in liaison with the Education Welfare Service.

iii) excluded pupils who are seen in public places within school hours.