Attendance

Absence Reporting

If your child will not be attending school, you must inform the admin team of their absence before 9:20am, providing the reason for the absence - attendance@francisbaily.co.uk.

Please include the following information in your email:

• Subject line - Child's Name and today's date
• Child's Name
• Class Name
• Reason for absence
• Vomiting/Diarrhoea - please advise the date/time of the last episode

Reminder: in line with NHS guidelines, all absences due to vomiting and/or diarrhoea require 48h absence from the last episode.

If no notification is received, the school will send a text and email reminder to contact the office.

If we do not receive any communication from you, the school will attempt to contact you by both phone and email. A welfare check may also be conducted at your home, and in the absence of further contact, the school will notify the police.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school 

Parental Responsibility

If your child is registered at school, you have a legal responsibility to ensure that:

• Your child attends school regularly.
• Your child arrives at school ready to learn by 8:55am.
• Medical and dental appointments are avoided during school hours where possible.
• Family holidays are taken during school holiday periods.
• You inform the school of your child’s absence daily or provide an expected return date.
• Any applications for leave of absence during term time are made in advance.
• You work with the school and the Local Authority to address any concerns around lateness and attendance.

Only the Head Teacher (or her representative) can authorise absence. While parents may provide reasons for absence, the school will determine whether these reasons are acceptable. By law, it is your responsibility to provide evidence for illness or other reasons for absence.

Lateness and Punctuality

Pupils must arrive at school by 8:55am each day, when the register will be taken, and gates will close. If your child arrives after this time, they must enter through the main office. Please note the following:

• Pupils arriving between 08:55 and 9:10am will be marked as late with the L code.
• Pupils arriving after 9:10am will be marked as late with the U code (unauthorised).

The administration team records all late arrivals and the time of entry.

Focus on Attendance

In response to the increasing levels of absence following the pandemic, we are placing a renewed focus on improving our school attendance rates. Our goal is for at least 96% of our children to attend school every day during the academic year. We are committed to working closely with families to achieve this aim.

To help put this into perspective, there are 365 days in a calendar year, of which 175 are non-school days that can be used for family time, holidays, and other activities. Schools are open for a total of 195 days, which includes 5 days for staff training when pupils are not required to attend. The school day is split into two sessions (morning and afternoon), meaning pupils attend 380 sessions per academic year.

Understanding different types of absence

Every half-day absence from school has to be classified by the school (not by the parents), as either AUTHORISED or UNAUTHORISED. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required, and is in fact a legal requirement.

Authorised absences are mornings or afternoons away from school for a good reason e.g. illness, medical or dental appointments which unavoidably fall in school time.

Unauthorised absences are those which the school and the governors, following Government regulations, do not consider reasonable and for which no ‘leave’ has been given. This type of absence can lead to the Local Authority using sanctions and/or legal proceedings, including penalty notices and fines.

Unauthorised absence includes:

• parents/carers keeping children off school unnecessarily e.g. because they had a late night or for non-infectious illness or injury that would not affect their ability to learn
• truancy before or during the school day
• absences which have never been properly explained
• children who arrive at school too late to be registered
• shopping trips
• looking after other children or children accompanying siblings or parents to medical appointments
• their own or family birthdays
• day trips
• holidays in term time, including any arranged by other family members or friends

Leave of Absence During Term Time

There is no legal entitlement for pupils to take holidays during term time. Head Teachers may only grant leave of absence in "exceptional circumstances" as outlined by The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024. It is important to note that the desire or need for a holiday is not considered an exceptional circumstance. While each request will be considered on a case-by-case basis, most requests for leave during term time will be refused.

In line with the Department for Education's new National Framework, schools must follow a consistent national threshold for penalty notices. If a pupil accrues 10 sessions (equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10-week period, a penalty notice may be issued. These sessions do not need to be consecutive and can include a combination of unauthorised absences, including lateness. The penalty notice will carry a fine of up to £160 per pupil, per parent, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. A second offence within three years will incur a further fine of £160.

Forms to request a planned leave of absence can be found on the stands in reception or on the Useful Forms section of the website.  

Our attendance policy can be found on the Policies page of our website.

Monitoring Attendance

Our team—Mrs Morley (Attendance Champion), Mrs Moore (Attendance Officer), and Alex Pilkington (Educational Welfare Officer)—are dedicated to monitoring attendance and providing support where needed. If we have concerns about your child’s attendance, you may be invited to meet with us to discuss how we can work together to improve it.

Throughout the academic year, the school carefully monitors pupil attendance in line with our attendance policy. As part of this process, we will send letters to parents/carers if concerns arise regarding their child’s attendance. These letters are designed to keep you informed and offer support where needed to improve attendance.

In addition, children will receive copies of their attendance certificates to take home, so parents can review and discuss their attendance progress. These certificates serve as a way to celebrate good attendance and identify any areas for improvement.

Each term, you will receive a report of your child’s attendance. We understand that every family’s circumstances are unique, and we encourage you to reach out to us if there are any challenges affecting your child’s ability to attend school regularly as we want to work with families to ensure that children are in school and learning.