St Paul's Catholic Primary School

Please also be aware that when students miss a lot of school through illness, schools are expected to investigate and, where appropriate, request medical evidence before agreeing to authorise those absences. In order to minimise absence it is essential that parents work in close co-operation with school. Please make sure that whenever your child is away from school you contact us straight away. As a parent you are legally responsible for making sure that your child attends school. If your child fails to attend school without acceptable reason you risk getting a penalty notice or being prosecuted. Arranging appointments and outings after school hours, at weekends or during school holidays will help to prevent disruption to your child’s education and to the school. The school will only agree to term time holidays in exceptional circumstance (that must be provided in writing to the headteacher) and if you do take your child/children out of school without the headteachers authorisation this too may result in a penalty notice. If you are struggling for any reason to get your child into school then please contact a member of staff as soon as possible. We can provide you and your family with practical help and support to ensure your child comes to school. We pride ourselves on our close working relationships with pupils and their families and we will always do everything we can to help. Punctuality also disrupts learning, not only of the child that is late, but also for the teacher and the rest of the class. Children who are late will have missed valuable teaching in the beginning of the lesson and will come into class feeling confused and not knowing what to do.

Absence Procedures If your child is absent you must:

•  Phone the school office by 8.30am on the first day of absence and on each subsequent day of absence.
•  Send a note in on the first day they return with an explanation of the absence and evidence (e.g. a doctors appointment card.
•  Please speak clearly when leaving a message on the school answerphone and include as much information as possible.

Further details can be found in our attendance policy under the policy tab.