Evidence suggests that children with excellent attendance records achieve greater success at school. Your child’s education is very important and therefore it is imperative that a child maintains a good attendance record.
However, absences due to illness will inevitably occur from time to time. When a child is absent, for any reason, parents are asked to notify the school by telephone on the first, and every subsequent day of absence.
Absence Procedures
The name and contact details of the school staff member pupils and parents should contact about attendance on a day-to-day basis is:
The Office Team
Email address: admin@galleywood.essex.sch.uk
We monitor all absence, and the reasons that are given, thoroughly.
If a child is absent from school the parent must follow these procedures:
- Contact the school on the first day of absence before 09.30 am. The school has an answer phone available to leave a message if nobody is available to take your call, or you may call into school personally and speak to the office staff
- Contact the school on every further day of absence, again before 09.30 am
- Ensure that your child returns to school as soon as possible and you provide any medical evidence, if requested, to support the absence
If your child is absent, we will:
- Telephone or text you on the first, and every subsequent day of absence, if we have not heard from you however it is your responsibility to contact us
- If we are unable to contact parents by telephone, we will telephone emergency contact numbers, send letters home and a home visit may be made in the interests of safeguarding
- A referral will be made to Local Authority if no contact has been made with parents by the 10th day of absence (or sooner if deemed appropriate), at which point your child will be “missing from education.”
If absence continues, we will:
- Write to you if your child’s attendance is below 95%, or where punctuality is a concern
- Invite you into school to discuss the situation with our Learning Mentor, Attendance Officer or Headteacher if absences persist
- Create a personalised action/support plan to address any barriers to attendance
- Offer signposting support to other agencies or services if appropriate
- Refer the matter to the Local Authority for relevant sanctions if attendance deteriorates following the above actions
Lateness
Poor punctuality is not acceptable and can contribute to further absence. Good timekeeping is a vital life skill which will help children as they progress through their school life and out into the wider world.
Pupils who arrive late disrupt lessons and, if a child misses the start of the day, they can feel unsettled and embarrassed, miss vital work and important messages from their class teacher.
The times of the start and close of the school day for all pupils at Galleywood Infant School are:
Gates open: from 8.30 am and classroom doors are open between 8:50-9am. Gates are locked just after 9am.
Registration closes: 9:15 am
End of the school day: 3.10 pm
How we manage lateness:
- The school day starts at 8.50am when children can begin to come into school
- Registers are taken at 9.00am and your child will receive a late mark ‘L’ if they are not in by that time
- Children arriving after 9.00am are required to come into school via the school office, where the parent/carer must sign them into our ‘Late Book’ and provide a reason for their lateness which is recorded
- At 9.15am the registers will be closed. In accordance with the Regulations, if your child arrives after that time, they will receive a mark that shows them to be on site – ‘U’, but this will not count as a present mark, and it will mean they have an unauthorised absence
- The school may contact parents/carers regarding lateness
- From time to time a member of school staff will undertake a ‘Late Gate’ check, greeting late arrivals at the main entrance to the school
Unauthorised lateness could result in the school referring to the Local Authority for sanctions and/or legal proceedings. If your child has a persistent late record, you will be asked to meet with Mrs Dennis or Mrs Manning, but you can approach us at any time if you are having difficulties getting your child to school on time. We expect parents and staff to encourage good punctuality by being good role models to our children and celebrate good class and individual punctuality.