Attendance & School Opening Hours

School opening and closing times

School opens at 8.40am, with registration at 8.50am. All pupils are expected to be in their classrooms by this time.

School closes at 3.15pm, and parents are expected to collect pupils on time.

The total time children spend in school during a typical five-day week is 32 hours and 5 minutes, including morning breaks and lunchtimes but excluding any after-school clubs or activities.

EYFS opening and closing times

EYFS opens at 8.40am, with registration at 8.50am. All EYFS pupils are expected to be in their classrooms by this time.

The EYFS school day finishes at 3.10pm. Parents are expected to collect their children promptly from School House.

Children must be accompanied by an adult and handed over to school staff at the door. At the end of the school day, we will only hand over pupils to named adults or older siblings, provided they are 16 years old or above. We will not allow older brothers or sisters who are pupils at the school to collect younger siblings.

Absence due to illness or unplanned absence

As soon as you know your child is ill, you must ring the school office before 9am and leave a message so that we can enter this into our electronic attendance register.

You should ring every day your child is absent. If we do not hear from you, we will contact you first by phone and then by text message if necessary.

The school may ask parents to provide medical evidence, such as a doctor's note, prescription, appointment card or another appropriate form. Absence due to illness will be authorised unless the school has a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness. If the school is not satisfied about the authenticity of the illness, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised, and parents will be notified of this in advance.

The Headteacher and designated safeguarding leads monitor absence and late records every day.

Valid reasons for authorised absence include:

• Illness and medical/dental appointments – Absence due to illness or necessary medical and dental appointments may be authorised.

• Religious observance – Where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil's parents belong. If necessary, the school will seek advice from the parents' religious body to confirm whether the day is set apart.

• Traveller pupils travelling for occupational purposes – This covers Roma, English and Welsh Gypsies, Irish and Scottish Travellers, Showmen (fairground people) and Circus people, Bargees (occupational boat dwellers) and New Travellers. Absence may be authorised only when a Traveller family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school, but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision.

• Medical or dental appointments – Missing registration for a medical or dental appointment is counted as an authorised absence; advance notice is required for authorising these absences. However, we encourage parents to make medical and dental appointments outside school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, the pupil should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary.

Following up absence – The school will follow up any absences to ascertain the reason, ensure proper safeguarding action is taken where necessary, identify whether the absence is approved or not and identify the correct attendance code to use.

If a pupil is not registered and a reason for absence has not been provided, the school will make every effort to contact you regarding your child's absence.

If we do not hear from you, safeguarding visits may be made to the home address, and the police may be contacted to conduct a safe and well check on the school's behalf.

Leave of Absence in Term Time

Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence to pupils during term time unless they consider there to be 'exceptional circumstances'.

The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant context behind the request. A leave of absence is granted entirely at the Headteacher's discretion.

• Application for Leave of Absence download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineApplication for Leave of Absence

Parents are advised to apply for leave of absence before they confirm their holiday arrangements. The Leave of Absence Request form should be sent to school marked for the attention of the Headteacher.

Parents will be informed by email of the outcome of their application for leave of absence.

Legal Sanctions

Schools can fine parents for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age.

If issued with a penalty notice, parents must pay £80 within 21 days or £120 within 28 days. The payment must be made directly to the local authority.

The decision on whether or not to issue a penalty notice ultimately rests with the Headteacher, following the local authority's code of conduct for issuing penalty notices.

Late Arrivals

School doors open at 8.40am and close at 8.50am, when all pupils are expected to be in school and ready for registration. This includes pupils in EYFS.

A pupil who arrives after this time may be marked as late if registers have closed, using the appropriate code.

Late arrivals must report to the school office accompanied by an adult to sign them into school and have their attendance mark added to the register.

We all run late sometimes. For your child, arriving late to school occasionally will not cause major disruption. Inevitably, children will feel sick or tired some mornings, or other situations will prevent them from being on time.

One of the most important aspects of school for your child is that school is organised so that they know where they have to be and when. When children are repeatedly late, these routines are disrupted.

Children who are often late may have trouble settling in and mastering routines. Being late can affect their whole morning or even their day, especially if the journey to school has been stressful.

We therefore ask all parents and carers to ensure that their children arrive at school promptly each morning, ready to begin their school day at 8.50am.