Authorised and Unauthorised Absences
Parents are encouraged not to remove their children from school for a holiday during term time. However, if it is not possible to take a family holiday during the school holidays, parents need to fill in a form and obtain authorisation from the Headteacher. This is an ‘authorised’ absence, agreed in advance by the school.
Experience has shown that holidays taken during term time in September and May are particularly disruptive to the children’s education. Therefore, holidays requested during these times may not be authorised.
An absence from school is ‘unauthorised’ when the school has not been notified that the child will be away (even for part of a day), or where a holiday has been taken without prior agreement by the Headteacher. Unauthorised absences are treated very seriously. The school has to keep a record of these absences and report them to the authorities and to an Educational Social Worker.
Absences due to illness
The school needs to know as soon as possible if a child is going to be absent from school due to illness, or will be late arriving for any other reason. The office should be notified first thing in the morning by telephone or note.
If a child becomes ill at school, parents or guardians are contacted by telephone and arrangements made for the child to be collected. Emergency contact details are held by the office, and are kept strictly confidential. It is very important that these are kept up to date.
Pupil Absence Report
Pupil absence records are monitored by the government and we are obliged to provide the following statistics:
During the academic year 2003-2004, Northbourne had 231 pupils of compulsory school age on the roll for at least one session. Authorised absences amounted to 3.3%, and unauthorised absences were 0.5%.
