At St. Peter’s we encourage each family to strive to ensure that their child’s attendance at school is the best that it can be. We are proud of our consistently high attendance statistics, and we are assured that this contributes directly to the high achievement and wellbeing of all of our children.
Obviously, we recognise that from time to time, children can become unwell. If your child is too ill to attend school, then please telephone the school office to report the absence as early as possible on the first day of absence. We certainly need to be aware of the reasons for any absence before 10.00am. If your child has had vomiting or diarrhoea, then we ask that they stay away from school for 48 hours after the last episode.
Wherever possible, we ask families to arrange medical appointments such as dental and optician appointments outside of school hours. However, we recognise that emergency appointments and appointments with specialists may fall during the school day. If your child needs to arrive at school after the beginning of the school day, or if they need to leave before the end of the day, then please drop/ collect them from the main school office. There is an intercom system on the Nursery gate which Nursery parents are welcome to use in this situation. Please hand in written confirmation of the appointment to your child’s class teacher, or to the main school office.
Please click this link to read our attendance policy: Attendance Policy Nov 22
Below is a copy of the information that was sent out to families on 13 September, 2024:
At St. Peter’s we strive for excellence in all that we do and that starts with the excellent attendance and punctuality of all our children. We know that when children are late or absent from school, they miss out on key learning opportunities which not only has a negative impact on the children’s future achievement but also on their mental health and wellbeing. As a school we will always strive to support our families and work together to remove barriers to attendance before considering any form of legal intervention.
In August, the new National Framework for Penalty Notices came into force. Education Penalty Notices are issued to parents of statutory school age children and can be issued to each parent or carer who is deemed liable for the child’s absence from school. For the first offence committed under the new legislation, the rate of a penalty notice is now £160 if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days – per parent, per child. For the second offence committed, the rate of a penalty notice is now £160 with no option for the second offence to be discharged at the lower rate of £80 – this is again per parent, per child. If a child receives three Penalty Notices within 3 years, the case will be presented straight to the magistrates’ court where fines can be up to £2500 per parent, per child. Please remember that any absence taken from school without permission may result in a Penalty Notice and/or prosecution. Failure to pay a Penalty Notice may also result in prosecution.
We obviously want to avoid this situation and therefore ask all of our families to support us in striving for excellent attendance for all our children. We are asking all of our families to please refrain from booking any term-time holidays and to also ensure that the children are in school before the registers close every day. Arriving after the register closes does result in an unauthorised absence. A Penalty Notice is triggered when a child has 10 unauthorised absences (10 half days or 5 full days) over a 10-week period.
Support and guidance around attendance is always available from school. If you have any specific queries in relation to this information then please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your continued support and understanding.
K Ryan – Headteacher
13th September, 2024