Information on Attendance

Term Time Leave of Absence

From September 2013 the Department for Education has amended the Education (Pupil Registration)(England) Regulations 2006 removing the head teacher's Ability to authorise leave of absence for a family holiday. Requests for holidays in term-time will not be authorised as the Regulations only allow authorisation of absence (leave) in 'exceptional circumstances'

Any absence requests must be put in writing including specific dates and addressed to the head teacher. Please be advised that the school will continue to refuse authorisation of holidays, or other requests for leave, during term time unless 'exceptional circumstances' apply.

Attendance and Punctuality

Learning begins the moment children enter Herne school.  Therefore it is essential that children attend school on time.  Late arrival can set your child up for a difficult start to their day.  The information below shows the impact of being late or absent - it adds up to an alarming figure.

As few as 19 days lost over a year can significantly reduce your child's progress and achievement at school. Please ensure that your child attends school every day!

The Government's aim is to reduce the absence of children from school. We are supportive of this policy as it is important that children miss as little schooling as possible to ensure their best progress. As part of the government scheme we are required to reduce the absences of children, both authorised and unauthorised.

Therefore, in line with many other schools, we use a computerised package to help us keep accurate records of illness and late arrivals. To enable us to complete the information accurately, it will be necessary for you to report all absences to the school including details of medical/dental appointments.

If your child is absent for any reason it is important to inform the school as soon as possible. If your child is ill, a telephone call to the office by 9.00am on the first day of absence would be appreciated, which will be noted and passed to the class teacher. This will need to be followed up with a letter on your child's return to school please. The class teachers will get a weekly report showing absences that need to be accounted for and you will be contacted to complete missing details.

Late arrivals will need to be signed in using the InVentry system: parents will be required to provide the reason for the late arrival. Children arriving late without an appropriate reason will be marked as an unauthorised absence.

Although we think it is highly unlikely, and inappropriate, that any of our children will walk unaccompanied to school or home, it is very important that we know who these children are. We can then contact you if the children do not arrive at school. I would therefore be grateful if you could ensure that your child's class teacher knows if this applies to your child.

Whilst we do not expect children to come to school when ill, we do expect to see them before and after a medical appointment. There is no reason for them to be kept at home for the whole day if they have, for example, a dental appointment at 11.00am. Not only is this not a good habit to get the children into, it is both disruptive to the child and the class as a whole.

A number of children are continually late. If they arrive after the register closes, they are then marked as absent for that session.

We have also noticed that some children are regularly absent on Fridays and Mondays. Long weekend? These will also be closely monitored.

Closer monitoring of attendance is embedded; individual parents will be invited to discuss any difficulties with a member of our Senior Leadership Team in order to improve the situation.

As you know, we track progress of all our children but we take particular interest in those who have poor attendance.

Thank you for your support.