Attendance
Attendance at St Chad's.
At St Chad’s, we are committed to ensuring that each of our children gets the best possible start to life. One way that we can do this is through ensuring regular school attendance.
Our attendance policy is rooted in a whole-school ethos that values good attendance, emphasising strong relationships with families, early intervention, and an inclusive environment that supports pupils’ social, emotional, and academic development. Regular attendance is vital for building routines, fostering positive teacher-pupil relationships, preventing knowledge gaps, and ensuring access to education and enrichment opportunities.
We recognise that school attendance plays a key role in shaping academic outcomes, personal development, and prospects; regular school attendance can have a significant impact on:
- Social and Emotional Development: School provides a safe environment for children to develop social and emotional skills, interact and form bonds and attachments. We incorporate social-emotional learning into our curriculum to support the development of empathy, self-awareness, and positive relationships
- Routines: School attendance provides structure and routine. We aim to create a consistent, secure base for our children, where they feel safe, valued, respected, and supported
- Teacher interaction: Regular attendance enables staff and pupils to develop meaningful and productive relationships which support teacher understanding of needs and assessment of progress. By fostering a sense of belonging and trust, we can create an environment where children can develop healthy attachments
- Academic achievement: There is a correlation between regular school attendance and academic outcomes
- Knowledge: School is where children acquire knowledge and skills that are crucial to their growth and development; missing days is missing opportunities.
- Preventing knowledge gaps: Poor school attendance leads to knowledge gaps and pupils can find it difficult to catch up potentially leading to long-term academic difficulties.
- School engagement: Children who attend school regularly are more likely to become involved in extra-curricular and enrichment activities.
- Parent/carer legal responsibility: Parents/carers are legally responsible for ensuring their child’s regular school attendance; failure to do so can lead to legal consequences.
Contact Information:
Email: admin@stchads.derby.sch.uk
Phone: 01332 345997
Statutory and School Expectations.
Understanding the Legal Requirements for School Attendance
As parents, you play a vital role in your child’s education. It’s important to understand the legal requirements for school attendance in England:
- Education is compulsory:
By law, all children aged 5 to 16 must receive a full-time education. This can be at a school or through approved home education. - Parents’ responsibilities:
If your child is registered at a school, it is your legal duty to make sure they attend regularly and on time. Absences must be explained, and schools will decide if the reason is acceptable (authorised) or not (unauthorised). - Unauthorised absences:
Missing school without a valid reason, such as holidays taken during term time without approval, is considered unauthorised. Repeated unauthorised absences may lead to legal action, including fines or court proceedings. - School's responsibilities:
Schools must monitor attendance and work with families to address any issues. If attendance becomes a concern, schools will contact parents to offer support and, if needed, may involve external services.
Our school attendance target is 96% or above, as regular attendance is key to your child's learning and success.
Authorised and Unauthorised Absence
An authorised absence is when a child is absent from school for a valid reason, and the school agrees that the absence is acceptable. For any absence to be authorised, parents must inform the school and/ or provide any necessary documentation or evidence.
Examples of authorised absence:
- An absence for sickness for which the school has granted leave.
- Medical or dental appointments which unavoidably fall during school time, for which the school has granted leave.
- Religious observance: where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s/student’s parent/carer belong. If necessary, the school will seek advice from the parents’ religious body to confirm whether the day is set apart. Parents will be expected to request leave of absence for religious observance in writing using the school’s leave of absence form. School will authorise one days leave for each religious observance (up to a maximum of two days leave in an academic year) providing a leave of absence request form is completed, otherwise these will be marked as unauthorised.
- Traveller pupils travelling for occupational purposes: this covers Roma, English and Welsh gypsies, Irish and Scottish travelers, showmen (fairground people) and circus people, barges (occupational boat dwellers) and new travelers. Absence may be authorised only when a traveler family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school, but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision
- Significant family bereavement, i.e. Mother (step), Father (step), principal carer or sibling.
- Significant family illness, i.e. Mother (step), Father (step), principal carer or sibling.
- Involvement in court proceedings, either in the family courts or in criminal proceedings.
- An absence due to a family emergency
Any requests for leave during term time will be considered on an individual basis and the pupil’s previous attendance record will be considered. Where the absence is granted, the headteacher will determine the length of time the pupil can be away from school.
An unauthorised absence is when a child is absent from school without a valid reason, or when the school has not agreed that the absence is acceptable. These absences may result in penalty notices from the local authority.
Examples of unauthorised absence:
- Parents keeping children off school unnecessarily or without reason.
- Absences which have never been properly explained.
- Arrival at school after the register has closed.
- Shopping, looking after other children or birthdays.
- Day trips and holidays in term-time which have not been agreed.
- Leaving school for no reason during the day.
- A Leave of Absence that was not approved.
- Where a pupil’s authorised absence record is already above 10% for any reason.
The Importance of Punctuality
Being on time helps your child start the day calmly and confidently, ready to learn alongside their friends. It also means they won’t miss out on important activities that set them up for success and a happy day at school.
A pupil/student who arrives late:
- Before the register has closed will be marked as late, using the appropriate code.
- After the register has closed will be marked as absent, using the appropriate code.
Our school gate on Gordon Road opens at 08:45am. Children need to be in school for 09:00am. If children arrive after 09:00am they will receive a late mark. We record how many minutes late and these are collated to gain an overall figure of a child’s punctuality. Please note: Part-time timetables are used for children who require them and this may mean planned, different arrival times.
The school office will contact parents of any pupils who are absent without a reason having been given.
In the first instance, our Family Support Worker will contact parent/carers to inform them we are monitoring their child/s punctuality and send a letter home informing them of this. If there is no improvement, we will arrange an appointment to discuss persistent lateness in school. Our Family Support Worker will work closely with families to understand the reasons behind the persistent lateness and offer individual, group or whole school support. All support is personalised and appropriate for the specific family school are working with. This support will be ongoing, but lateness/punctuality will be closely monitored for half a term before moving to the next step.
Reporting Absences
The pupil’s parent/carer must notify the school of the reason for the absence on the first day of an unplanned absence by 9.00am or as soon as possible by contacting the school office by phone on 01332 345997 or by sending an email to admin@stchads.derby.sch.uk. It is not permissible for parents to report any absence via Class Dojo.
We will mark absence due to illness as authorised unless the school has a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness, or the child’s attendance is below 90% and the parent/carer has signed an Attendance Agreement.
Absence should not be reported via Class Dojo
During all inductions, parents are required to provide a minimum of three emergency contact phone numbers. If a child is absent and his/her parent/carer has not notified the school, the school may consider a home visit if all three emergency contact numbers have been tried and there is no answer. All home visits must be authorised by the Headteacher or a member of the Senior Leadership Team in her/his absence. In cases where there is the involvement of a Family Social Worker, the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Safeguarding Lead may inform the child’s Family Social Worker in the event of an absence of school instead of carrying out a Home Visit.
Support for Families
We understand that barriers to attendance can sometimes be complex and that every family’s situation is unique. Some children may find it harder to attend school, or there may be challenges outside of school that affect a parent or carer’s ability to bring their child to school. That’s why we take a whole-school approach to supporting good attendance, recognising the impact of our work in areas such as the curriculum, regulation, SEND support, and pastoral care. We also know that the effective use of resources, like pupil premium, can help improve attendance for all children. Building strong relationships with families and earning their trust is central to our approach, as we know that working together is key to overcoming any challenges. If attendance becomes a concern, we offer support through parent workshops or meetings led by our Pastoral Team, focusing on areas such as routines, school expectations, and school readiness. In some cases, outside agencies like the Family Visitor or the Education Welfare Service may be involved to provide additional support. We’re here to work together with families to ensure that every child has the opportunity to thrive.
Term Dates and Leave Guidance
Our school’s term dates and holidays can be found here.
The Department for Education stipulates that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. There is no automatic right to any leave in term time, and any leave of absence is granted at the headteacher’s discretion, including the length of time the pupil is authorised to be absent for.
The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, considering the specific facts, circumstances, and relevant context behind the request. Any request should be submitted as soon as it is anticipated and, where possible, at least two weeks before the absence, and in accordance with any leave of absence request form, accessible via the school office. The headteacher may require evidence to support any request for leave of absence.
The following are examples of authorised absence:
- Illness and medical/dental appointments.
- Religious observance: where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s/student’s parent/carer belong. If necessary, the school will seek advice from the parents’ religious body to confirm whether the day is set apart. Parents will be expected to request leave of absence for religious observance in writing using the school’s leave of absence form. School will authorise one days leave for each religious observance (up to a maximum of two days leave in an academic year) providing a leave of absence request form is completed, otherwise these will be marked as unauthorised.
- Traveller pupils travelling for occupational purposes: this covers Roma, English and Welsh gypsies, Irish and Scottish travelers, showmen (fairground people) and circus people, barges (occupational boat dwellers) and new travelers. Absence may be authorised only when a traveler family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school, but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision
- Significant family bereavement, i.e. Mother (step), Father (step), principal carer or sibling.
- Significant family illness, i.e. Mother (step), Father (step), principal carer or sibling.
- Involvement in court proceedings, either in the family courts or in criminal proceedings.
Any requests for leave during term time will be considered on an individual basis and the pupil’s previous attendance record will be considered. Where the absence is granted, the headteacher will determine the length of time the pupil can be away from school.
Requests for leave will never be granted in the following circumstances:
- Holidays
- Immediately before and during statutory assessments
- When a pupil’s attendance record shows any unauthorised absence
- Where a pupil’s authorised absence record is already above 10% for any reason
The Legal Framework: Penalty Notices
It’s important for parents and carers to know that unauthorised absences or leave from school can result in penalty notices issued by the local authority. Further information:
Penalty notices can be issued by a headteacher, the local authority officer or the police, fining parents for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age.
- The first time a penalty notice is issued for term-time leave or irregular attendance the amount will be: £160 per parent, per child if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days.
- The second time, within a three-year period, that a penalty notice is issued for term-time leave or irregular attendance the amount will be: £160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days.
- The third time, within a three-year period, that an offence is committed for term time leave or irregular attendance a Penalty Notice will not be issued, and the case will be presented straight to the Magistrates’ Court.
The decision on whether to issue a penalty notice may consider:
- The number of unauthorised absences occurring within a rolling academic year.
- One-off instances of irregular attendance, such as holidays taken in term time without permission.
- Where an excluded pupil is found in a public place during school hours without a justifiable reason.
If the payment has not been made after 28 days, the local authority can decide whether to prosecute or withdraw the notice.
Child Missing from Education.
At St Chad's, the safeguarding of our children is our top priority. We recognise that children missing from school, particularly repeatedly, may be a sign of underlying issues, including safeguarding concerns. If a child does not attend on their first confirmed start date, we will make reasonable enquiries to establish the child’s whereabouts and, if necessary, contact the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) as soon as possible.
If a child has not returned to school for ten days after an authorised absence or has been absent for twenty consecutive school days without authorisation, we will work closely with the EWO to make reasonable enquiries to locate the child. If we are unable to determine the child’s whereabouts or if there is no reasonable cause for the absence, preparations may be made to remove the child from the admission register. This will only occur once we have consulted with the EWO and have confirmed that all efforts to find the child have been exhausted, and that there are no other reasonable grounds for the absence, such as sickness or unavoidable circumstances.
The decision to remove a child from the school roll will only be made in partnership with the EWO, ensuring that we have followed all required procedures to safeguard the child and support their return to school.