Attendance

When a child’s attendance is good, their experience of school is more positive as they access the full curriculum; friendships remain strong and the familiarity of routines allows them to feel safe and secure. Happy children learn well. Improving attendance continues to be a key focus across school.

The better a child’s attendance the higher they achieve and research shows that attendance levels at primary school have an impact on GCSE results at the end of secondary school.

We aim for children to have 100% attendance at school. However, we also understand that there are times when a child will be ill and may be absent. The national average for attendance is 96%, the equivalent of missing around 8 days over a year, and all children should aim to have this as a minimum for attendance. Any child whose absence falls below 90% or around 19 days off over the year is classified by the Government as a Persistent Absentee. If your child’s attendance approaches this figure we will contact you to discuss how we will work together to improve it.

Letting Us Know

Of course we understand that children will sometimes need to be absent from school due to illness and other circumstances. If you are unsure whether your child should be at school please click here for more advice.

In order to authorise your child’s absence, we need to know the reason for them being away from school. There are a number of ways in which you can report your child’s absence:

• Call the school directly on 01904 553940 between 8am and 9am.
• Send a message via the school app
• Send an email to hello@dringhouses.co.uk

If we don’t hear from you, we’ll send a text, make a phone call or will do a home visit to check everything is ok.

Medical Appointments

We completely appreciate some hospital appointments have to be in school time but must encourage all other appointments to be made either before or after the school day. In order for us to authorise absence for medical appointments, proof in the form of a letter, appointment card or text needs to be seen by the school office. It is expected that, if well enough, children are to be in school before and after the appointment. 

Holidays

Holidays in term time will only ever be authorised in exceptional circumstances. If you wish to take your child out for a family holiday, please make contact with the school office who will ask you to complete the necessary paperwork. Where holidays are taken and not authorised, parents may be issued with penalty notices in line with LA policy and procedures.