Attendance At School

Section 30 of the 1980 Education Act lays a duty on every parent/carer of a child of ‘school age’ to ensure that their child attends school regularly.

Attendance must be recorded twice a day, morning and afternoon.

Regulation 7 of the Education (School and Placing Information) (Scotland) Amendment, Etc. Regulations 1993 requires each child’s absence from school to be recorded in the school register as authorised or unauthorised: As defined by the Scottish Government.

Maintaining Contact with the School

At the start of each school session, parents will be asked to provide contact details including at least one emergency contact number and one mobile number (for the text messaging service).

Parents are required to inform the school if these contact details change during the course of the year.

 Absence Notification Procedures for Primary Pupils

Parents and carers are asked to inform the school if their child is unable to attend from the start of the school day on the morning of the first day of absence.  Parents should explain why their child is absent and when they may return.

• Parents can telephone the absence line on 01236 632053. The school office is manned from 8.15am
• Where a child has not registered and the school has not been informed of the absence by 9.30am, the school will try to contact the main carer by SMS message
• On receipt of this message, you should phone the school to explain your child’s absence
• If the school does not hear from you, school staff will access all other contacts that we hold on file
• In terms of child safety, police will be contacted if all attempts to locate the child have been exhausted

Parents should inform the school by letter or telephone if their child is likely to be absent for some time and to give the child a note on his or her return to school confirming the reason for absence.

Absence Notification Procedures for Nursery Children

• Although attendance in nursery is not compulsory, it is monitored
• If your child cannot attend nursery for any reason, we would appreciate it if you could telephone the school office and leave a message
• If your child is absent and we do not hear from you, we will make a courtesy phone call, or send a text message, to ascertain the reason for absence
• Continual absence, for an extended period of time without explanation, may result in the Nursery place being withdrawn.

Family Holidays During Term Time

Every effort should be made to avoid family holidays during term time as this both disrupts the child’s education and reduces learning time.

Parents/guardians should inform the school by letter of the dates, before going on holiday.

Absences will be classified as authorised only in exceptional circumstances.

Such circumstances may include:

• A family holiday judged to be important to the wellbeing and cohesion of the family, following serious or terminal illness, bereavement, or other traumatic events.

A family holiday classified under the ‘authorised absence’ category WILL NOT include such reasons as:

• The availability of cheap holidays
• The availability of desired accommodation
• Poor weather experienced during school holidays
• Holidays which overlap the beginning or end of term
• Parental difficulty obtaining leave (except in cases where evidence is provided by the employer that it cannot accommodate leave during school holidays without serious consequences).

Family holidays with the above similar characteristics will be classified as unauthorised absence. Where the Head Teacher’s prior agreement has not been sought the absence will automatically be classed as unauthorised.

 Extended Leave with Parental Consent

Where most family holidays will be recorded as unauthorised absence (see above), extended leave with parental consent will not be considered the same as a family holiday. Leave in such circumstances will be authorised under circumstances such as:

• Extended overseas educational trips not organised by the school.
• Short-term parental placement abroad.
• Family returning to its country of origin (to care for a relative or for cultural reasons).
• Leave in relation to the children of travelling families.

Exceptional Domestic Circumstances

Parents may request permission for such leave in writing and the school may authorise such requests under the following circumstances:

• The period immediately after an accident or illness
• A period of serious or critical illness of a close relative
• A domestic crisis, which causes serious disruption to the family home, causing temporary relocation.

Parents may request permission for a child to be absent from school to make an extended visit to relatives.

For a request to be granted and the absence recorded as authorised it must be in writing and detail the destination and duration of the absence, and the provision to be made for the education of the child during the period of absence.

If there is no explanation from the parents, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.

It should be emphasised that the school investigates unexplained absences.  The authority has the power to write to, interview or prosecute parents/carers, or to refer pupils to the Reporter of the Children’s Panel, if necessary.   A statement of the school’s policy including procedures for the enforcement of attendance.