Absence and Illness

Parents are expected to contact the school office on the first day of absence and thereafter for each further day of absence. The school requires that in this message that the symptoms of the child’s illness are confirmed (“unwell is not an acceptable reason”) with a likely date of return. Any absence must be followed up in writing. If written notification is not received then the absence will remain unauthorised. If the absence is longer than 5 school days then evidence is required  i.e. medication required to treat illness that has been prescribed by a doctor, a doctors letter or appointment card.

Term times are for education. This is our priority. Children and families have 175 days off school to spend time together, including weekends and school holidays. Should you require your child to be absent for reasons other than illness, then you must complete and return a “Leave of Absence form” which can be obtained from the School Office. Please be aware that as per The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013, Head Teachers may not grant any leave of absences during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Absence during term time for holidays is therefore not an exceptional circumstance. The fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional’ are rare, significant, unavoidable and short. By ‘unavoidable’ we mean an event that could not reasonably be scheduled at another time.

We are not allowed to authorise any school holiday for any child. Any time off during term time will go down on your child’s record as an unauthorised absence. A penalty fine may be issued to parents by the Educational Welfare Officer. This could mean that if unauthorised holiday is taken during term time then both parents may be liable to fixed penalty notices of £60 per child, this will increase to £120 if not paid within 28 days.

All absences are reviewed on a regular basis by the Head Teacher and the Education Welfare Officer Mrs Eimear Walsh.

For a copy of our Attendance Policy click on the link below: