5th September 2025

School Attendance Policy

Dear Parents/Carers,

As part of the CET (Central Education Trust), we are writing to share our attendance policy and procedures with you so that you understand how we apply this policy to all children in the school.  This policy is in place across all schools in the Trust.

We want to begin by expressing our heartfelt gratitude for your continued partnership with us. We have been so pleased to see the positive improvements in attendance across our school community during the last academic year, and we truly appreciate the effort many families have made to support their children’s school attendance.

We also want to thank you for your honesty and openness when reporting your child’s absences. Your transparency helps us understand your family’s circumstances and enables us to provide the right support when needed.

We remain committed to working alongside you to ensure your child makes the most of their education and achieves the best possible outcomes throughout their school career and beyond. We understand that every family faces unique challenges, and we are here to support you through them.

Our Supportive Approach

When we have any questions about your child’s attendance, our first priority is always to reach out and understand how we can help. For the Autumn term, we will include the previous Summer term’s attendance data to give a complete picture. We do this because even small amounts of absence in the shorter Autumn term can impact overall attendance figures. Please know that Mrs Zantboer, our Attendance Officer, and Mr Williams, our Attendance Champion, may occasionally need to move more quickly through this process depending on individual circumstances, but always with your child’s best interests at heart.

• Stage 1: Opening the Conversation

If we notice any attendance concerns, we will contact you to discuss them together. Our aim is simply to understand what is happening and explore how we can best support your family.

• Stage 2: Working Together

We will monitor your child’s attendance for an agreed period, celebrating any improvements along the way. If challenges continue, we will invite you in to create a Family Action Plan together. This collaborative approach helps us identify practical ways to support your child’s attendance that work for your family’s unique situation.

• Stage 3: Additional Support

If attendance remains a concern, we will arrange a meeting with Mr Williams, our Attendance Champion, who brings additional expertise and support options. At this stage, the Local Authority may send a ‘Notice to Improve’ letter, which simply formalises our ongoing partnership to support your child’s attendance.

• Stage 4: External Support

When needed, we may involve our Education Welfare Officer (EWO), who can provide additional family support and resources.  We want to emphasise that legal action is always our last resort, used only when we have been unable to work together to find solutions that support your child’s education.

Understanding Absence Types

All absences are recorded as either ‘authorised’ or ‘unauthorised,’ and both affect your child’s overall attendance percentage. We authorise absences when we understand the valid reasons behind them, and we are always happy to discuss individual circumstances with you.

Keeping in Touch About Absences

We are grateful for your continued honesty when reporting absences. When your child cannot attend school, please let us know before the school day begins providing full details. While we ask you to be specific rather than using general terms like ‘unwell’ or ‘poorly,’ we understand that sometimes you are dealing with complex situations. If we have not heard from you about an absence, we will give you a call.

Illness and Medical Needs

We recognise that deciding whether to send a child to school when they are unwell can be challenging for parents. The NHS provides helpful guidance in ‘Is my child too ill for school?’ to support these difficult decisions. We understand that you know your child best, and we trust your judgment about their wellbeing.

Medical and Dental Appointments

Appointments should be arranged outside school day. Where this is not possible, we ask that they are made late in the afternoon to minimise disruption to your child’s learning. Where morning appointments are necessary, you will need to notify school in advance if your child will be returning for lunch. Where evidence of the appointment is received, this would be recorded as an authorised absence.

Supporting Good Timekeeping

We understand that morning routines can be challenging for many families, and we want to support you in helping your child develop good timekeeping habits. When children arrive late, it can sometimes make them feel unsettled, and they may miss important information or the start of learning activities. We ask that children are ready to learn when registration begins. There are two different codes which can be used to mark late arrivals on the register.  If your child arrives during registration, they will receive an ‘L’ code. If they arrive after registration closes, they’ll receive a ‘U’ code (unauthorised absence), which affects their overall attendance record.  If punctuality becomes a pattern, we will reach out to chat with you about how we can work together to support your family’s morning routine. Our goal is always to help, not to add pressure to your day.

School day times

Penalty notice fines

There is now a single consistent National Threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered by all schools in England.  This is 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period. The 10 sessions of absence do not have to be consecutive and can be made up of a combination of any type of unauthorised absence – for example ‘G’ (unauthorised holiday), ‘O’ (unauthorised absence) and/or ‘U’ (late after register closes, coded within the school’s registers). The 10-school week period can span different terms, school years and different education settings.

Term time holidays

There is no entitlement in law for pupils to take time off during the term to go on holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure or recreation, or to take part in protest activity in school hours. In addition, the Supreme Court has ruled that the definition of regular school attendance is “in accordance with the rules prescribed by the school.”

The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 sets out the statutory requirements for schools. All references to family holidays and extended leave have been removed. The amendments specify that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances.’ The fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional’ are events that are ‘rare, significant, unavoidable and short.’ By ‘unavoidable’ we mean an event that could not reasonably be scheduled at another time, outside of school term time. We have enclosed a copy of the penalty notice fine structure which came into force in August 2024, for your reference.

We hope that you have found this letter useful and informative. Our approach is consistent with National Guidance and will enable all our pupils to access their full education and achieve future success. We at Children’s Endeavour Trust want to make attendance everybody’s priority.

Kind regards,

Miss A Siddall

Co-Headteacher