Attendance Matters!

Absence and Illness

Your child’s attendance is monitored daily by the school. Our target is 97% attendance (achieving 95.2% in 22/23); should your child’s drop to 92% or below, we will be working with you and the Educational Welfare Officer to support you to improve attendance. It is important that your child attends school regularly and is punctual. Children should be in school before the register closes. If your child is absent from school it is important that you contact the school office as soon as possible to let us know the reason for absence. If no message has been received by closure of the registration, the office staff will telephone home to enquire the whereabouts of your child. 

​If your child is unwell during the school day or has had an accident we will contact you as soon as possible. Please ensure that your contact details are regularly updated in the school office. If a child has been sick then your child may not return to school until 48 hours after the last case of sickness.  

If your child has an appointment during the school day please inform the school office or your child's class teacher. It is important that your child is signed in and out of the school building at the school office.  NB: You may be asked to provide verification for your child’s appointment.
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Holiday During Term Time

From 1st September 2013 new DfE regulations have come into force regarding leave of absence for children from school. The current law does not give any entitlement to parents to take their child away during term time. Any application for leave must be exceptional circumstances and the Head Teacher must be satisfied that the circumstances warrant the grant of leave. There are 175 days each year where children are not in school for you to be able to take them on holiday. We understand that it is more expensive to take holiday in term time. However, the educational impact of lost learning time is significant. There will be gaps in your child's learning and they may struggle to catch up to
where the rest of the class have got to in a particular subject. Therefore, if you take your child out of school for a holiday, we will be referring parents to the Local Authority who will issue you with a fixed penalty notice, as other schools in Bedford Borough already do. Each parent will be fined, for each child taken
out of school. This is unless there are exceptional circumstances. 

Parent Informaiton

Attendance Policy View here

Importance of Good School Attendance Parent/Carer Letter View here 

Whilst a child is of compulsory school age at the beginning of the 1st term after their 5th birthday, we would encourage full attendance in their Reception Year. In our opinion, this academic year is the most important of all. 

This year sets the foundation for lifelong learning, behaviour, and health. The experiences children have in Reception will develop their social and emotional skills and the child’s capacity to learn.  It undoubtedly teaches them how to get along with others and how to respond to daily stresses and challenges.