Our staff and governors believe attendance and punctuality is crucial to our pupils learning. It is important for children to attend school regularly so they not only learn, but also improve their social skills and raise their self-esteem. We will do all we can to encourage each child to attend regularly and on time. We will identify any problems and act upon them and endeavour to support parents and carers in their role.

Our Expectations

For our pupils:

• To attend school regularly
• Pupils are encouraged to arrive at school by 8:45am
• Registration is 9:00am – the school gates are shut promptly
• All pupils that arrive late must report, with their parent, to the school office where the reason for lateness is recorded.

For our parents:

• To ensure that their child attends school regularly 
• To ensure that their child is punctual 
• To inform the school if their child is absent, and why, on the first day of illness 
• To send a letter into school on their return confirming the reason for the absence 
• To let the school know if there is a problem with their child attending school, so we can offer support and endeavour to find a solution

We will communicate to our parents the importance of good attendance and punctuality. Parents are given information on illness and absence on this website and in the school brochure, this highlights the importance of being at school on time and notifying us if their child is absent for any reason. Parents are asked to share any worries their child might have in school. Sometimes little things upset a child which means that they become unhappy and may not want to come to school. We hope that by working together we will be able to solve such problems. At school we are required to keep register, which is a legal document and we must record the reason for any child’s absence. 

The school week is 32.5 hours long for every child.

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE LAW REGARDING PENALTY NOTICES FOR UNAUTHORISED ABSENCE (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS IN TERM TIME) FROM SCHOOL.

A new National Framework for Penalty Notices for school absence, including unauthorised holiday absence, has been introduced following changes to the law. These new Government regulations came into effect from August 2024. This and other changes can be found in the Department for Education Working together to improve school attendance.

What are the changes?

There is no longer the scope to authorise a term-time holiday in any circumstances. “Generally, the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance.” DFE 2024

There will be a new national threshold of 10 unauthorised sessions for any reason (equivalent to 5 school days) within a rolling 10 school week period. The first time this threshold is met, a notice to improve letter will be sent, which will include a timeframe for improvement. This monitoring period will be 20 days. If there is any further unauthorised absence within this monitoring period, a penalty notice will be issued by Kent County Council.

Notice to improve letters will not be sent for unauthorised holidays comprising ten sessions or more, instead a penalty notice will be issued by the Local Authority following the holiday being taken.

Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each child and the amount will be £160 if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.

If a second penalty notice is issued within a rolling 3-year period, then the charge will be at a flat rate of £160 per parent per child if paid within 28 days.

In both instances failure to pay the penalty in full at the end of the 28-day period may result in prosecution by the Kent PRU and Attendance Service.

In the event of three or more periods of unauthorised absence within a 3 rolling year period, a penalty notice will not be issued. A statutory attendance referral will be made to the Kent PRU and Attendance Service who will consider the case for prosecution.

Please see attendance policy (on policy page of website) for further information.