The law clearly states that parents should promote good attendance and work in partnership with school to ensure learning opportunities are maximised. We all want the best for our children, to nurture and care for them. Having an excellent attendance record at school contributes greatly to this goal. Working together, we can give pupils every chance of reaching their full potential. However, the more days a child is absent from school the greater the risk of underachievement and social isolation.

Our school aims to meet its obligations in regard to school attendance by:

• Promoting good attendance and reducing absence, including persistent absence

• Ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled

• Acting early to address patterns of absence

Attendance %	Rating	Days absent	Description
100%	Perfect Attendance	0	This is the best chance of success for your child
97%	Good Attendance	5
95%	Improvement Required	9	Less chance of your child succeeding as it is harder for them to make progress
92%	Concern (Persistent Absence*)	19
90%	Serious Concern **	30	Serious Concern Missing this much education is a serious problem for your child and may result in legal action

Reporting Absence

Please follow this process if your child is going to be absent from school:

• Contact us on the Pupil Absence Line: 01769 582120 before 8.45am on first day of absence.
• Encourage your child to return to school as soon as they are feeling better, including for the afternoon session if appropriate.
• Contact us on the Pupil Absence Line each day for continued absence and, if it is requested, provide suitable medical evidence.

Our Attendance Officer will contact parents/carers who have not informed school of any absence, for safeguarding reasons.

Leave of Absence in Term Time

Schools are only allowed, by law, to authorise non-medical absences if they are requested in advance by a parent with whom the pupil normally resides. A request for absence during term-time that is not for a medical reason should only be made in exceptional circumstances.  A family holiday, including on the basis that the holiday is less expensive during term-time, would not normally be considered as an exceptional circumstance.

A school can only authorise such a request if all the following criteria are met:

• the school is satisfied that there are “exceptional circumstances” which apply
• previous attendance rates are high (unless attendance is affected by a known medical condition or disability)
• the pupil will be able to catch up on missed work
• in the school’s judgement, the wider impact of the pupil missing the specified time is minimal
• there are no other relevant factors that might mean the pupil should not be given a requested leave of absence.

Guidance from the Department for Education and Devon County Council is that schools must be extremely cautious about approving such requests if the pupil’s education is likely to be significantly impacted upon.

Parents should ensure that they know whether the absence will be authorised or not before they go away. An unauthorised absence will likely result in a penalty notice or court summons being issued to each parent for each pupil affected. Parents are asked to complete the S2 Absence Request Form (below) and send it into school at least three school weeks before the intended absence.