It is important that children come to school on time every day. There is a link between good school attendance and high level attainment. Regardless of the reason, if your child is absent from school it will impact on their learning. Parents and carers are legally responsible for ensuring their child attends school every day and on time.

Reporting Absence

Authorised absence

If your child is ill or unable to attend school for some reason, you should contact the school by phone and leave a message on the absence line to notify them. Depending on the reasons for absence, the Head Teacher will decide whether the absence can be authorised or not.

Unauthorised absence

Absence from school is likely to be recorded as unauthorised absence when:

• there is no parental explanation
• the school is not satisfied with the explanation for an absence.

In either of these situations you could face prosecution.

Monitoring Attendance

We monitor the children's attendance every day and will contact parents where there are concerns.

Too ill to attend school?

Children can attend school with minor ailments (e.g. toothache, stomach ache, headache, sore throat, cold), over the counter medicines can be given at home before school. School will contact you if they become too ill to remain in school. Children should be off school for 48 hours if they have sickness or diarrhoea.

Self-care for minor illness

The following illnesses can be managed safely with self-care and do not require to see a GP routinely. The links below offer clinically approved information on how to recognise them.

Conjunctivitis: www.nhs.uk/conditions/conjunctivitis

Hand, foot and mouth disease: www.nhs.uk/conditions/hand-foot-mouth-disease

Chickenpox: www.nhs.uk/conditions/chickenpox

Common cold: www.nhs.uk/conditions/common-cold

Over the counter medicine from the local pharmacy can help manage symptoms, including calpol, nurofen, piriton and eye drops. Pharmacists can provide advice on the use of these medicines and instructions are provided in the packaging. 

Medical Appointments

Where possible all appointments should be booked outside school hours. Where this is not possible, the amount of school time missed should be kept to a minimum. School may not authorise the time off school if medical evidence is not provided.

Leave of Absence during Term Time (holidays)

Children are not entitled to holidays in term time. Family holidays should be taken during school holiday periods. If a parent intends to take their child out of school for a leave of absence during term time, they must have requested this in advance. All leave of absence during term time requests will be unauthorised except for exceptional circumstances (at the discretion of the Headteacher).

New statutory guidance from the DfE was implemented from 19 August. You can be fined for taking your child on holiday during term time without the Head Teacher's permission. This also applies if you do not submit a request form and the Headteacher has reason to believe the child was absent for the purpose of a holiday.

The threshold for Penalty Notice fines is 5 days / 10 sessions of unauthorised absence over a 10-school week period. When a school becomes aware that a child absence has met the threshold, they must consider whether a penalty notice should be issued.

Penalty notices are set at £160 (per child, per parent) and must be paid within the statutory 28-day deadline.

The first Penalty notice fine issued to a parent is reduced to £80 if it is paid in full, within 21 days of issue. All fines must be paid within 28 days of issue otherwise parents may be prosecuted in court.

A second fine issued to a parent/carer for a child who is absent from school without authorisation is fixed at £160, with no option to pay at a reduced rate if the fine is paid within the first 21 days.  

Parents/Carers can only receive a maximum of two fines for any individual child over a three-year rolling period for an unauthorised absence from school.

 A third request for a fine within a three-year rolling period would result in the matter being referred directly to the Magistrates court. 

If a parent/carer is prosecuted at court, they could receive a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or a jail sentence of up to three months. The court could also give you a Parenting Order.

Parents who decide not to pay a fine and contest the matter in court should seek independent legal advice before doing so.

Further guidance and information can be found  on the Nottinghamshire County Council website.