Attendance and Holidays

Attendance Matters

Moulton School works in partnership with parents/carers in promoting and encouraging 100% attendance and punctuality for all our students - vital to ensuring students fulfil their potential. Missing lessons leaves students vulnerable to falling behind. Regular attendance, including good punctuality, helps students become reliable and organised – two qualities most valued by prospective employers. Every child and young person is entitled to an education. Parents who do not ensure their children receive an appropriate education put their whole future at risk. Being absent from school means a lost learning opportunity.

Regular and punctual attendance at school is a legal requirement.

As a school, we have a duty in law to refer, to the Education Welfare Service, any absence of 10 days or more where we have been unable to make contact with the parent/child, or have general concerns about the absence.

 

What to do if your child is unable to attend school:

Each day your child is absent, including each day of a continuous absence, you must make contact with us - before morning registration.

  • Parents can contact the school either via the dedicated absence telephone line: 01604 641600, option 1 and then select the correct year group for your child; or via the email address: attendance@moultonschool.co.uk
  • Your message must include a comprehensive reason as to why your child is absent for the day: ‘unwell’ is not sufficiently detailed.

 

Legitimate reasons for absences:
  • Sickness: only the first 3 occurrences in one academic year will be authorised by the school. Thereafter, these will be recorded as unauthorised absences, unless there is an ongoing medical condition that we have been made aware of and have medical evidence for.
  • Medical / Dental Appointment: (whenever possible these should be arranged outside of school hours). If it is during school hours, then evidence of the appointment will need to be seen. Although we do understand that it is not always possible for appointments to be made outside of school hours, what we do expect is that every effort is made to keep any time away from school to an absolute minimum.
  • Day of Religious Observance.
  • Exceptional Family Circumstances: EG bereavement or as agreed by the Headteacher.
  • Approved Sporting Activity.

The following absences will not be authorised (NB this list is not exhaustive)

  • Holidays
  • Family days out
  • Looking after siblings or sick relatives
  • Staying at home to await a tradesman or delivery
  • Birthdays or family celebrations
  • Missing the bus
  • Shopping
  • Not having appropriate school uniform

Please note: Absences can only be authorised by the school.

 

Holiday in Term Time:
  • You have to get permission from the Headteacher if you want to take your child out of school during term time.
  • To do this, you will need to make a written application to the Headteacher, in advance of the absence, and be the parent with whom the child normally lives. An application can be made by completing our 'Request for term leave of absence form' (.DOCX) (.PDF). Completed forms should be emailed to: attendance@moultonschool.co.uk.
  • Permission will only be granted if there are exceptional circumstances.

The Department for Education regulations in relation to school attendance now includes parents receiving a Fixed Penalty Notice for taking students out of school in term time. Therefore, we are legally obliged to refer to the Education Entitlement Service any exceptional circumstance holidays that have not been agreed by the Headteacher for consideration of further action. A Fixed Penalty Notice of £60 per parent/adult for each student could be the outcome.

 

HOW CAN PARENTS HELP?
  • Inform the school promptly of any absences.
  • Do not allow your son or daughter to stay away from school unless absolutely necessary.
  • Inform the school if your child needs to leave the school site during the school day, or will be late to registration due to an appointment.
  • Note: No child is allowed to leave the premises without prior consent from parents/carers.
  • If your son/daughter seems reluctant to come to school and you suspect a problem at school, contact us sooner rather than later.
  • Do not ‘condone’ an absence by providing an excuse, which may be covering a problem.
  • We are partners in your child’s education, and by sharing a problem, we may be able to solve it. We do not consider any problem to be trivial, and will try to act to solve a problem as soon as we know about it.
  • Organise non-urgent medical appointments outside of school hours.
  • Ensure your son or daughter arrives on time.
  • If your child walks to school, ensure s/he leaves early enough. Experience shows that the majority of late arrivals come from those who walk or are driven to school.
  • If you drive your child to school, bear in mind that Moulton Village gets very busy and congested at key times. Therefore, parents are requested to ensure that sufficient time is allocated to ensure that students arrive at school on time.

 

HOW WILL THE SCHOOL HELP?

As a school, we will:

  • Contact home on day 1 of absence, if no message has been received from home.
  • Contact home over any unexplained absences.
  • Follow up promptly any concerns that parents pass on to us that may be affecting their child’s attitude to, or wellbeing in, school.
  • Involve the Year Offices and/or Family Support Workers to help students re-integrate into school after illness or other individual circumstances, as necessary.
  • Regularly and consistently remind students of the importance of good attendance and punctuality.
  • Reward good or improving attendance, and action any concerns promptly.