Attendance

If your child is absent or going to be late for any reason, please inform the school before registration begins at 9.00am. The attendance line number is: 01727 868021 and can be found at the bottom of the school website.

By law, only the Headteacher can authorise your child’s absence. It is important to keep the school informed as soon as possible if your child is going to be absent.

Ideally, non-emergency medical appointments and family occasions should be planned during school holidays, as these absences will not automatically be authorised. Holidays during term time will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Any requests for absence must be made in advance to the Headteacher.

If your child is absent and no reason is provided, or if the school believes the reason is not valid, the absence will be unauthorised. Please contact the school if you are finding it difficult to get your child into school so that we can offer support.

If your child attends school and feels unwell during the school day, the school will contact you to arrange collection.

Good attendance is vital to your child’s success at school. I would therefore like to remind you of your legal responsibilities as parents and the requirements needed to support your child’s success. On-going poor attendance is often linked to lower levels of academic achievement and could also affect future applications for jobs or college places. Many pupils may also find it difficult maintaining friendships if they have long or frequent school absences.

It is a parent’s legal responsibility to ensure their child is in school. Ongoing unauthorised absence of 10 sessions or more (there are two sessions in a school day), within 10 rolling school weeks could lead to a Penalty Notice being issued. This is £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days (for the first offence).

If your child is too ill to attend school, please contact us on the first day of absence and on each subsequent day that your child remains unwell.

You can call us on 01727 868021 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

If you would like to discuss your child’s attendance, please contact their form tutor or the Attendance Lead, Sally Smiles, on 01727 868021 and they will be happy to talk with you and arrange a meeting if required.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Yours sincerely,

Ross Whitaker
Headteacher

For further information, please see Batchwood School’s attendance policy on the Policies page.