Reporting Absences

In order to safeguard the interests of our pupils, we operate a system of ‘First Day Contact’.

Please telephone the school on 01621 782070 if your child is not going to be in school or contact the school office in person between 8.30am and 9.30am on the first day of absence. If  noone is available to take your call, then please leave a message on our answerphone. For the safety of your child we cannot accept notification of absence by email.

If we have not been advised of a reason for absence by 9.30am then we will attempt to contact you by telephone to confirm the wherabouts of your child.  We may contact the police if we have concerns about a child’s failure to turn up at school and have been unable to get in touch with you or other named contacts on your list.

When your child returns to school, please send in a letter confirming the reason for the absence.  This enables us to mark the absence as authorised.

The school will consult with the Education Welfare Officer if the above is not adhered to or we have concerns about your child’s attendance.

Requests for Leave of Absence

Schools have a statutory obligation to monitor attendance and to set challenging targets to reduce absence. Our efforts to do so are monitored by the Local Authority and Ofsted.  In order to achieve our targets, we are aiming to reduce the number of holidays taken in term time. The DCSF has carried out studies which show a strong link between attainment and attendance.  (Detailed information can be found at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/schoolattendance/)  Therefore for your child to achieve their maximum potential they must attend school regularly.

Could I please draw your attention to the school policy regarding requests for leave of absence. We greatly value the positive relationship between parents and the school and we do not want the issue of holidays to create a conflict in this relationship. 

Parents do not have a statutory right to 10 days leave of absence per academic year, although many believe this to be the case. The school may consider approving a request for leave only if there are exceptional circumstances.

The Essex Code of Conduct relating to school absence has been updated with effect from December 2008. The Local Authority has decided that due to the continued increase in term time holidays the absence rate of pupils should no longer be taken into consideration when reviewing a request for leave of absence.

Whilst we understand that holidays are cheaper during term time, this cannot be considered as a valid reason for approval; neither can odd days off for long weekends, birthday celebrations or visiting relatives.

Please do not put the school in the position of having to decline approval for a leave of absence, which may lead to a referral to the Education Welfare Service. We greatly value the success of our students and any absence can be to the detriment of a child’s learning, it is therefore imperative that avoidable absences like holidays are discouraged. 

All applications for leave of absence must be made at least 3 weeks prior to the proposed date of absence, and we strongly recommend that this is done before any holiday is booked.

Thank you for your support.