Parents are asked to inform the school on the first day of absence from school. It helps the school if a message concerning absence through illness, or lateness, can be received before the start of the school day so that we can be confident that all children who set out for school have actually arrived. It is helpful if parents notify the school if the child is suffering from an infectious or contagious illness, so that proper precautions can be taken.

Should you wish to collect your child to attend an out of school appointment (eg dentist/doctor), or wish them to be excused from taking part in a particular activity (eg PE or Games), we ask you to inform the school in writing.

We ask parents contemplating holidays or other absences during school time to bring to your attention the Code of Conduct for the issue of Penalty Notice Warnings and the new Department for Education Guidelines for the issuing of Penalty Notices for taking unauthorised holiday during term time.

Parents have no automatic right for their children to be absent from school, this is at the discretion of the Headteachers.

If there are occasions when you need to request absence during term time, this should put in writing to the Headteachers. The school will apply criteria to these requests and in exceptional circumstances the absence may be granted. We would discourage you from doing this unless you have very exceptional reasons. We do need to make you aware that if the absence is not authorised the school must make a referral to the Local Authority and the absence will result in a Penalty Notice.