Reporting Absence and Lates at PSJ
If your child is unwell, please:
- Call, email or come into the school office. Please try to do this before 9am on each day of absence.
- Please leave your child’s name, class and a clear description of their illness (it’s important for us to track any occurring illness in a class / year group).
If we don’t hear from you, the school office will:
- Call or text the child’s priority 1 contact.
- If we don’t get through to you, we will leave a voice message/request a call back.
- If we don’t hear back from you we may need to contact the police or children’s social care in order to ensure your child is safe and well.
- Your child’s absence may be marked as unauthorised in accordance with the MNSP Attendance Policy.
If your child attends a medical appointment of any kind, the school office needs to see a copy of that appointment. This will be noted on your child’s attendance record.
Be punctual and arrive on time!
- The registers open at 8:30am: children should be coming into classrooms at this time.
- Children arriving between 8:45am and 9:00am will be marked as Late (L code) and must register via the school office when they arrive.
- The registers close at 9:00am. Children arriving after registers close will be marked as Unauthorised Late (U code).
- The minutes late will be logged in the child’s attendance register. In accordance with the MNSP Attendance Policy, children may be required to ‘repay’ this lost time through a detention.
Attendance Matters
Attendance is the essential foundation to positive outcomes for all pupils and should therefore be seen as everyone’s responsibility. It is essential that pupils get the most out of their school experience, including their attainment, well-being and wider life chances. Studies have shown that the pupils with the highest attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 have higher rates of attendance over the Key Stage, compared to those with the lowest attainment.
The Attendance Matters campaign is a national campaign. To find out more about this and how we are working to improve attendance please visit our Attendance Matters page.
Absence request
If you feel that an absence is unavoidable for an exceptional circumstance, please complete an absence request form.
Absence Request Form
What will happen if your child’s attendance starts to fall below 97%?
- If a child’s attendance falls below 97%, the school will contact parents/carers by email.
- If a child’s attendance continues to decline, further letters will be sent outlining support that could be offered.
- Failure to notify the school about the absence will result in it being marked as unauthorised.
- Children who have 10 unauthorised absences (5 days) or more within 100 days will be referred to the Education Inclusion Service and a penalty notice will be requested (this could be 5 days in a row, or 5 days spread out over a period of up to 100 days) and this could result in a fine.
- Children whose attendance falls below 85% will be referred to the Attendance and Welfare Support Service.
We understand that there are many reasons why a child’s attendance might fall below 97% during the school year. However, we have a duty to inform you by letter that their attendance is being monitored. As always, we are keen to work with you to support your child’s attendance at school and are always happy to meet with you to discuss ways to move forward.
To avoid a penalty notice request from the Local Authority, please ensure that family holidays are not booked during term time. We are only able to authorise absences during term time in very exceptional circumstances.
Please ensure that this message is passed on to any other carers or family members who may be booking holidays for next year. The term dates are published on our term dates page and school calendar.
