Every day matters
All children are expected to attend school regularly and punctually.
Holidays during school time harm your child’s education. If your child is away for too long, they may lose their place at school.
If your child is going to miss school, you must call us on 020 8985 6176 to let us know. Our Attendance Officer (Sharon Mecabih) must investigate all unexplained or recurring absences.
Our attendance rates have improved enormously this year, and we are now above the national average. Please help us keep up this good record.
Absence requests
An ‘authorised absence’ is when a child misses school through illness or family circumstances, you have told the school and the school has given permission.
An ‘unauthorised absence’ is when the school has not given permission for your child to miss school.
We can allow up to five days’ extra absence per year, but this is only for exceptional circumstances.
If your child is going to be away during term time, even for just one day or half a day, you need to complete an absence request form and pass it to our Attendance Officer, Sharon Mecabih.
We will reply with a letter that either confirms that we are giving permission or explains why the request is not being authorised.
If we don’t get your request in time, your child’s absence may be recorded as unauthorised.
The law says we must make a note of any unauthorised absences and punctuality rates on pupil reports. Information on attendance rates is included in school league tables. We send home printouts of children’s attendance levels each half-term.
If you would like to discuss issues relating to attendance, please contact Sharon Mecabih, Attendance Officer.
More information
To learn more, download our Attendance & Registration Policy.