Absence
At TASS, we are totally committed to promoting the welfare & learning of your child through regular school attendance. We know that every day lost to education can have a serious impact on your child’s attainment and overall progress in school. We are therefore fully committed to promoting excellent attendance by fostering a love of school as well as providing an environment and ethos where children feel safe & can build positive relationships with each other. Please click to download our Attendance Policy.
Attendance is celebrated every week as part of our weekly Celebration Assembly where the winning class with the highest attendance receives a certificate. The first three classes also appear in our weekly newsletter: The Totley Telegraph (see newsletters).
In order to ensure that all children reach their full potential, we ask that parents ensure that their child attends school regularly & punctually & that holidays in term time are avoided. It is also important that your child is punctual for school as learning begins right at the start of the school day & consistent lateness is not only detrimental to their progress, but also disrupts the start of the day for the rest of the class.
Reporting Your Child’s Absence:
If your child is ill & is unable to attend school, then please report this to the school office by phone stating the reason for absence & in the case of illness, the symptoms.
In order to safeguard our children, the school will try to contact the parents of a child who is not registered if we have not received a notification of absence.
Authorised and Unauthorised Absence is recorded on a child’s attendance records. These records are electronically accessed and are monitored by the Headteacher plus the Local Authority in accordance with the Education Regulations 2006.
Planned Absence:
Please note that parents are not entitled to remove children from school for holidays or occasional days. Leave of absence must be applied for and the decision to register this formally as authorised or unauthorised rests entirely with the Headteacher. All planned absences must be applied for on the Absence Request Form & the Headteacher will respond via a formal letter in order to give a decision of authorised or unauthorised.
Please see the Local Authority leaflet on Holidays in Term Time for more information on this subject as well as the instances where a Fixed Penalty Notice may be issued.
Please also see our joint school & Local Authority Exceptional Leave During Term Policy for more information.
