Attendance
Attendance
We know that most parents and carers already do a fantastic job supporting their child’s learning by ensuring they come to school every day. Regular attendance plays a key role in helping children achieve their best. Most importantly, we want every child to feel happy, confident, and ready to make the most of their education, giving them the best possible opportunities for the future.
At St Barnabas C of E Primary School, we aim for the highest possible attendance and carefully monitor both attendance and punctuality to support every child’s success.
Punctuality
The school day begins at 8:50a.m. If your child arrives at school after this time, please ensure they enter the building at the main office to make sure they are marked present in the register, anytime after 09:00am will be recorded as late, Just 5 minutes late a day can have a real impact on your child's education.
Appointments
We appreciate that appointments are needed and can not be avoided; we do, however ask that appointments, where possible, are made out of school time or during the school holidays.
Any appointments made during school time will need to be accompanied by proof of appointment.
Holidays
Unfortunately holiday requests will not be authorised unless deemed an exceptional circumstance by the Executive Headteacher, Mrs Sowerby. Honesty is always the best policy and so please complete a holiday request form, available at the bottom of this page or request one from the school office. If a holiday request form is not completed and your child is absent then a home visit may be conducted.
If the leave of absence has not been authorised by the Headteacher, the information will be submitted to the Education Inclusion Service who may issue a Penalty Notice or take other legal intervention. Penalty Notices were introduced as an alternative to prosecution but if they fail to act as a future deterrent, prosecution may be considered, rather than a further Penalty.
The rules for Penalty Notices changed in 2024, and for the first offence the charges are: -
If paid within 21 days the Penalty Notice is £80 per parent or carer, per child
If paid after 21 days but within 28 days the Penalty Notice increases to £160 per parent or carer, per child
If the Penalty Notice remains unpaid after 28 days this will result in prosecution.
Illness
Children get poorly, we understand that.
If your child is ill, please contact the office to notify Mrs Burrows first thing in the morning.
If you are unsure if your child can be at school please see the guidance from Public Health Agency with advice on various illnesses and condition, the link for which is below,
or contact the school for advice.
Here are a couple of really common conditions:-
How we manage attendance in school
We keep a close eye on attendance in conjunction with our local Education Inclusion Officer so we can offer help and support where needed. The Government defines ‘persistent absence’ as attendance below 90%. If we have any concerns about a child’s attendance or punctuality, we will contact parents and carers to work together and find supportive ways to improve this.
- Attendance Policy (Policy page)
- Application Form for a Holiday/Exceptional Leave of Absence Request during Term Time