Being late affects both your child’s learning and that of the rest of the class.  Important instructions are missed and having to join the class when everybody else is settled and ready to learn can embarrass and worry many children.

We operate a soft start, so pupils may arrive on site as from 8.30am and go straight to their classroom, to start their early morning activity.

Children should be in their classroom at their allotted registration time (see above). Any child arriving after this time will receive an L mark (late).

Arriving 30 minutes or more after registration receives a U mark, which counts as an unauthorised absence for that morning. This therefore counts against attendance as well as punctuality.

The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 state that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Headteacher will determine the number of school days to be authorised. In the small amount of cases in which leave is granted, proof may be required to validate your request. In order to request a Leave of Absence we require you to submit a form stating your exceptional circumstances which can be found at the bottom of this page or in each school office.

In accordance with the above Regulations, requests for leave of absence are treated sympathetically, but only in exceptional circumstances can they be approved. Government Regulations state that parents who take their child out of school during term time, without the authority of the Headteacher, will each be liable to receive a penalty notice. Penalty Notices will be issued by the Local Authority and in Surrey it has been agreed that Penalty Notices will only be issued where 5 days unauthorised ‘leave of absence’ is taken. These absences do not have to be consecutive but could be accumulated over a 3 month period.

If parents/carers take their children out of school without authority for 5 or more days (which do not have to be consecutive), they will be liable to receive a penalty notice. The amount payable under a penalty notice is £160.00 per parent/carer per child if paid within 28 days. The amount is reduced to £80.00 per parent/carer per child if paid between 21 days of receipt of the notice. If the penalty notice remains unpaid after 28 days, the Local Authority will consider a prosecution in the Magistrates Court. Please note that penalty notices are issued per parent/carer per child so a family of two parents and two children will receive 4 penalty notices.

We have devised a programme of incentives to encourage excellent attendance and punctuality and we will revisit them periodically.

We will celebrate ‘best class attendance’ and ‘best class punctuality’ each week. As well as certificates for their classroom doors, KS1 will keep the Attendance Bear in their class as a reward and KS2 will have a trophy.