Reporting my child's absence
How do I report my child’s absence?
We understand that absence due to ill health can be unavoidable. If your child is going to be absent please contact the school office by 9am. This can be done by:
Sending an email [email protected]
Phoning the office on 0161 428 2476 - if unanswered before 8.30am you can leave a message on the answer phone
Report the absence via the School Spider app
Please call each day of your child’s absence or, if your child has sickness/diarrhoea and there is a known 48 hour period enforced from last bout of sickness/diarrhoea, please inform us of this.
If we do not hear from you, and your child does not arrive in school, our Attendance Officer Mrs Steele will contact you.
It is essential that we have up to date contact information as it is considered a safeguarding concern if we do not have two known contact numbers. So, if you change your mobile number, PLEASE LET THE OFFICE KNOW straight away and we will update our SIMs contact information.
Children with less than 95% attendance will be closely monitored by our attendance team. Letters and referrals to the Education Welfare team will be made if attendance is causing concern. Appointments will be made with parents to discuss absence and failure to make significant improvement in attendance, may result in legal action possibly fines and/or prosecution.
When should I keep my child off school?
Children can attend school with minor ailments such as toothache, headache, stomach ache, cold, sore throat. If you are unsure how long your child should be absent with an illness, ask the office, your GP or pharmacist for advice. Your child should only be kept off school due to illness if they:
Have an infectious illness which could spread to other people
Need care during school hours that cannot be carried out in school
Are so unwell that they are not able to cope with lessons
The NHS website has useful advice here so if you are not sure, check the NHS guidance. If you are still unsure, contact us, a pharmacist or your GP.
Medical/Dentist Appointments
All routine appointments should be booked outside school hours. If your child is absent for medical reasons, we may ask to see ‘medical evidence’ e.g. copy of a prescription, medicine packaging with a label or appointment card. If you are unable to provide this, we might not authorise the absence.
Punctuality
Regularly arriving late to school is unsettling for your child and can have a negative impact on their engagement in school life. Arriving late:
• Means they often miss the beginning of lessons and may miss key learning that hinders them to follow the rest of the class, affecting comprehension and retentions of learning.
• Can impact how they are seen by their peers. They may be perceived as unreliable or disorganised, which impacts their ability to form and maintain friendships.
• Can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety. This stress can build up over time and affect their overall well-being and attitude towards school. This can then lead to negative self-perceptions and a reduced sense of belonging within the school community.
• Can establish behavioural patterns that continue into adulthood, including habitual lateness in the workplace and affecting job performance and career prospects. If your child arrives late, this will be marked in the register.
If your child arrives very late, this may be recorded as unauthorised absence for the whole morning. Every School day Counts but every MINUTE is equally important!
8.40am Gates are open
8.50am Pedestrian gates are locked
8.55am Class electronic registers are taken and lessons begin
All children arriving once the school gates are locked MUST enter school via the school office and parents must record their names on the sign in system. These will be marked in the class register as (L).
Each child arriving late causes disruption to the rest of the class / group. Lost minutes = Lost learning and over an academic year 5 minutes late each day equates to 3 days lost! 10 minutes late each day equates to 6.5 days lost! So, on time, all day, every day!