Attendance and Absence
Attendance
Regular attendance at school is important. It can help children to learn and help in building successful relationships. As such, we monitor attendance thoroughly, and share this information with the local authority. We understand, of course, that there are many perfectly valid reasons why children cannot and should not attend school at times. However, absences deemed as unexceptional ie: term time holidays, birthdays, car troubles etc.. and frequent lateness are not valid reasons, and will be subject to a penalty notice charge.
For your information, children who fall below 90% attendance are categorised as a persistent absentee. This also includes not being registered on time at the start of the day.
Please remember to keep us informed of any necessary absence every day via 01794 340407 or email schooloffice@awbridge.uwinat.co.uk. This is important for safeguarding and also so we can appropriately code your child’s absence within our registers. We will contact you if we aren't informed and if we cannot get hold of a parent/guardian or alternative contact, you could receive a home visit.
NB: it is a legal requirement that your child attends school each day.
Penalty notices:
There are new rules for attendance as of August 2024, please see the below poster:
Penalty notices can also be issued for persistent lateness when registration is missed, as this is classed as missing a session. Please do ensure your children are in school on time. As a reminder: school doors at open at 8.50am and the register is taken at 9am. Beyond this time, your child will be classed as late.
Please see our attendance policies for further information:
Absence reporting
If your child is unable to attend school due to illness, please contact the school office to report their absence as soon as possible, preferably prior to morning registration.
You can phone (01794 340407) and leave us a message or send us an email: schooloffice@awbridge.uwinat.co.uk
Please include your child's name, class and the reason for absence.
In line with our safeguarding policies and the legal requirement for children to be in school, we will need to telephone and/or email all contacts if a child is not at school and their absence hasn't been reported. Failure to reach a guardian could result in a home visit.
sickness
This link to the NHS provides valuable information about common illnesses in children and how long the NHS recommend children to stay off school:
Is my child too unwell for school? Is my child too ill for school? (NHS)
Children can come to school when they have been prescribed medication for an illness, as staff are able to administer this. We will need you to fill in a form with details when you bring in the medicine.
Please make sure any medication has a pharmacy label detailing your child's name, dosage and how frequently they should have it.
We are unable to administer over the counter medications and request that children are not given their own medicines to take in school.
Appointments
Parents will be expected to make all routine medical or dental appointments outside of school hours wherever possible. Where this is not possible (ie: hospital or emergency appointments), parents will be expected to obtain approval for their child’s absence to attend such appointments as far in advance as is practicable and where necessary, proof of appointments can be requested. Parents will be responsible for ensuring their child misses only the amount of time necessary to attend the appointment.
Please bear in mind that appointments during the school day are disruptive for children and staff.