Attendance and Absence
Attendance & Absence
If all children at Willow Grove are to achieve well, make the most of their time at school and nurture their skills and future opportunities, then regular attendance and punctuality is key. Without this, learning is disrupted and irregular, leading to many children not being able to achieve their full potential. All staff and governors are committed to meeting Willow Grove’s obligations with regard to this by ensuring the following:
- Promoting good attendance and reducing absence, including persistent absence
- Ensuring every pupil has access to full-time education to which they are entitled
- Acting early to address patterns of absence
- Building strong relationships with families to ensure pupils have the support in place to attend school
Willow Grove strongly urges parents/carers to avoid booking holidays during term time, as this significantly affects educational progress.
From September 1st 2013, changes were made to Government legislation regarding taking holidays during term time. Schools are now no longer able to authorise absence for family holidays. Absence for participation in sporting events, family events (e.g. weddings of immediate family, religious celebrations, graduations etc.) and compassionate reasons will be considered on an individual basis but will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.
Parents/carers are asked to contact the school to report their child’s absence by 8.45am on the morning of the first day of absence by calling 01234 581150.
Further contact on each subsequent day of absence, as well as advising when they are expected to return, is expected. Where the school has not been contacted regarding an absence, the school will attempt to contact the parent/carer by phone or email. If there is no response and the school are concerned about the welfare of a child or family and have been unable to contact anyone from the contact list held, then the school may contact the police and request a welfare check for the family.
Willow Grove School expect every pupil’s attendance to be above 97%. Parents will be notified if attendance falls below 95%.
As part of our pledge to ensure outstanding attendance, we monitor pupil attendance weekly and identify any pupils who we believe may be at risk of harming their education due to their lack of attendance at school.
During these monitoring exercises, we do take into account individual extreme cases where pupils have had other circumstances or illnesses which has resulted in lower than expected attendance.
If attendance is lower than expected, we will make contact with you. We will be assigning pupils into 3 categories:
- Category 1 (lower than expected attendance): Make parents/ carers aware of current attendance and monitor, phone call home from assistant head offering support and advice.
- Category 2 (well below expected attendance): Meeting arranged with Headteacher to discuss reasons for absence with support and advice offered and an attendance contract agreed.
- Category 3 (well below expected attendance and cause for concern): Second meeting arranged with Headteacher to discuss reasons for absence with support and advice offered and an attendance contract reviewed and agreed.
Is my child to ill for school? (infection control guidance)
Application for Leave of Absence
If a leave of absence request is necessary, please contact the school office or print off an Application for Leave of Absence Form
