Attendance at School
This policy reflects the vision, values and aims of St Mary’s Primary School and Nursery Centre.
Our staff work collaboratively to encourage pupils to strive for excellence and every child is supported, challenged and valued. Our approach to raising achievement recognises that attendance at school is something that should be continuously encouraged. It is our position that parents/carers, children and the school all have a part to play in encouraging and stressing the importance of attendance at school to all children.
All absences from school are required by law to be recorded.
Absences will normally fall under two categories – authorised or unauthorised absence.
In cases where your child is unable to attend school parents are asked to:
- inform the school by letter or telephone, if your child is likely to be absent and to give your child a note on his/her return to school, telling of the reason for absence.
- notify the school first thing in the morning when your child is going to be absent. Let the school know the likely date of return and keep them informed if the date changes
If there is no communication to the school, a member of support staff will contact you to enquire why your child is not at school. If school staff are unable to contact you to establish the reason for an unexplained absence, a letter will be sent to the family home
As part of our monitoring attendance procedure, parents will receive a letter if their child’s attendance falls below 90% or they have regular latecomings recorded.
We ask that you inform the school of any change to the following information:
- Home telephone number
- Mobile number
- Emergency contact details
Requests for your child to be permitted to be absent from school to make an extended visit to relatives must be made in writing detailing the reason, destination and duration of absence to the Head Teacher. On these occasions the pupil will be marked as an authorised absentee in the register.
Family holidays should be avoided during term time as this both disrupts the child’s education and reduces learning time. If holidays are taken during term time, parents should inform the school in advance by letter. If your child is taken on a family holiday during term time then in line with Scottish government advice this will be classified as an unauthorised absence. However in exceptional circumstances schools may register a family holiday during term time as an authorised absence. Clearly, absence with no explanation from parents will mean that the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.
At Saint Mary’s, we firmly believe there is no better way for children to learn than to be with their teachers and peers every day.
