Please be reminded that school attendance is mandatory. It is vital that children are in school, for their educational progress, for their wellbeing, and for their wider development. We continue to work closely with parents to help us to achieve this.
At St. Vincent’s we work hard to:
- Ensure every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled
- Promote good attendance and reduce absence, including persistent absence
- Act early to address patterns of absence
- Support parents to perform their legal duty to ensure their children of compulsory school age attend regularly, and will promote and support punctuality in attending lessons.
Please ensure that any holidays are booked during the school holiday period. Holidays during term time will not be authorised.
Exceptional Leave of Absence
Parents/guardians must ask permission, where the situation is exceptional or urgent, for their child to be absent during term time. Headteachers are only empowered to approve a leave of absence when it is requested in advance by the parent or carer with whom the child resides and when the circumstances of the requested leave are ‘exceptional’. If no application is made or leave is taken without permission and there are no exceptional circumstances, a term time holiday is contrary to s.444(1) of the Education Act 1996 and Fixed Penalty Notice can be issued accordingly. Parents wishing to apply for their child to have leave from school should complete this form and return it to school for authorisation at least two weeks before the proposed leave.
Absence Due to Illness
Parents are asked to please telephone school before 8:50 a.m. to inform us when a child is absent from school due to ill health. If we do not receive a telephone call by 9:00am. the office staff will call to check why your child is not in school. Although we appreciate that children can be poorly, if your child’s attendance falls below 90% we are required to ask parents/ carers for medical evidence to authorise absences due to illness.
Please click here for NHS advice Is my child too ill for school?
The school day
School starts at 8:30am, with a soft start until 8:45am, and finishes at 3:05pm for EYFS, and at 3:15pm for KS1 and KS2. Over the week, this means children are in school for:
- EYFS: 32 hours and 55 minutes
- KS1 & KS2: 33 hours and 45 minutes
There is also a Breakfast Club available from 8:00am each morning, and an After School Club until 5:15pm each day. Please contact the school office for more information about these.
