Absences
Reporting absence guidance
It is vital that you inform the college before 8.00 am in the morning if your child is too ill to attend college (for every day of absence) or they are attending a medical appointment.
Please use EdulinkOne to report your child's absence.
If you are unsure of how to do this please contact your child’s Pastoral Leader
Please be aware that if your child is absent from school for more than one consecutive day due to illness you must provide us with medical evidence. This can take the form of a doctors appointment card or prescription.
Holidays during term time
There are just 190 school days a year. This means that there are already 175 days set aside for weekends, holidays, family visits and rewarding days out.
We believe every school day counts to give your child the greatest opportunity of attaining a good education and to support a happy and healthy future.
With 175 days already marked out as ‘non-school-days’, you should have an exceptional reason to withdraw your child from school.
The following are considered illegitimate reasons and are likely to be rejected and unauthorised:
- Trips to visit family/friends
- Cheaper family holidays
- Your child’s birthday
- Tickets to sports/culture events
Form to request absence
The Department for Education has amended the regulations and guidelines in relation to absences in term-time. From 1st September 2013, the Department for Education will only allow a head teacher to grant a leave of absence if there are exceptional circumstances. If you consider that your request for an absence is exceptional you will need to complete and send us the absence request form via email, post or by hand FAO Sara Marshallsay Principal.
Request for term time absenceAll absence requests must be completed on the form, letters will not be accepted.
This should be returned to the school at least 14 days before the start of the requested absence.
A response will be sent to you as soon as possible. If the absence is not considered to be an exceptional circumstance, and you nevertheless take your child out of school, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.
Why excellent attendance matters
Regular student absence leads to much lower academic achievement and an increase in the social issues they experience in college and so in the interests of your child we ask that you ensure they attend every day unless they really are too ill to be here
Unauthorised absence
In the case of an unauthorised absence, the Education Support, Behaviour & Attendance Service may be notified of the absence taken and a Penalty Notice may be issued.
Please note that such a Penalty is issued to each parent for each child taken out of school.
A Penalty Notice is a fine of £60 which increases to £120 if not paid within the first 21 days. Thereafter, if the Penalty remains unpaid this will result in legal intervention.
