Hillside Primary School
Attendance - Every Day Counts
Good attendance is very important to us at Hillside. The government says that every child should have attendance of 96% or above. Missing occasional days, or taking a short holiday, might not seem like very much, but it can have a big effect on your child's education.
For example, if your child misses 2 weeks of school every year, this adds up to more than 2 terms over the child's time at primary school. This can have a serious impact on not just your child's attainment, but also on their friendships and how settled they feel at school.
By making sure your child attends school regularly and on time means that they will have the same education and opportunities as everyone else in their class and you won't need to worry about them catching up on work or falling behind. They will also develop stronger friendship bonds with the other children.
You need to contact the main school office before 9.00am, if your child is not going to be in school for any reason. You can get in touch by emailing office@hillsideprimaryschool.co.uk or ringing school on 01484 226834. If you do not contact school regarding your child's absence, we will call you and if no response, will send a voicemail or text message requesting you to call school. If we don't hear from you by the end of the school day, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. Staff will pay housecalls on day 3 of any absences, or on the first day if attendance is a concern.
Children who arrive after the classroom doors close at 8.45am, should use the main entrance. They will be recorded in the late book and be given a late mark in the register. Children arriving after 9.20am will be given an unauthorised absence for the morning session.
The law says that your child should be in school every day unless they are too ill to attend, or you have got advance permission from the school for them to be absent. Please try to make medical appointments outside of school times where possible. we will need to see evidence of appointments, so if possible email appointment letters/screenshots of texts etc. to the office email.
When you are feeling unwell, it is normal to feel worse in a morning and in an evening. Children bounce back pretty quickly from common ailments such as coughs, colds, sore throats etc. Our advice in these cases is to give your child some paracetamol and bring them into school. If they really are unwell, we will ring you. You are welcome to bring pain relief/throat sweets etc into school to be given to your child by school staff, as long as you complete a permission form from the school office.
The link below gives really useful advice on whether your child should attend due to feeling unwell.
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/
Please click the link below for information on different childhood illnesses and infections:
Other than medical appointments etc, permission for absences will only be granted in 'exceptional circumstances to the child'. The Principal will consider each absence request individually and decide whether or not to grant the absence. The Principal will also decide how many days your child can be away from school if the absence is granted. It is at the Principal's discretion to decide which circumstances are classed as 'exceptional'. 'Exceptional circumstances' are rare, significant, unavoidable events, which could not reasonably be rescheduled at another time. Holiday requests DO NOT qualify as an exceptional circumstance and we are not allowed to authorise these.
If you do take your child out of school without advanced permission (except when they are ill), you may be fined, or even prosecuted. Penalties for taking your child out of school include:
- A fixed penalty notice of £80 per parent, per child, if paid within 21 days, or £160 within 28 days. If not paid within the time limit, the case may go to prosecution.
- If a second penalty notice is issued within 3 years of the first one, then the cost is £160 per parent, per child.
- If a third unauthorised leave of absence is taken within this period, school can request a prosecution for the offence of not ensuring your child's regular attendance at school, under s44(1) of the Education Act 1996. If found guilty, you may be fined up to £1,000 and receive a criminal record.
- A parenting order, education supervision order, or school attendance order, where your child repeatedly misses school without a good reason.
If you wish to take your child out of school during term time (other than for illness/medical appointments), you must submit a formal leave request to school at least 2 weeks beforehand. Forms are available from the main school office. Please put as much information as possible in your request, which will be considered by the Principal.
Please be aware that even if your child is not of compulsory school age, we follow the same guidelines to promote good attendance habits, although you won't be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice.
Further information can be found in our Attendance Policy, under 'About Our School' tab. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Attendance Newsletters:
Attendance Strategy
