At Woodlands Infant and Nursery School we recognise the importance of good attendance in school and how it can impact on a child’s performance overall.

​Why Attending School Matters

 Missing school really does make a difference to your child’s future. Research shows that children who miss school regularly can fall behind with their work and do less well in tests. Aim for 100% school attendance as this may help improve your child’s chances of getting a better job or career in the future.

Appointments During School Hours

 We ask that all appointments such as medical etc are made out of school hours. However if your child has an appointment they cannot miss or rearrange, evidence of this appointment will need to be seen by the school office. This could be an appointment card, letter or text message.

Holidays During Term Time

 The DfE guidelines makes it very clear that headteachers cannot authorise any leave of absence, including term time holidays, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Any absence without this agreement will be classed as unauthorised.

Exceptional circumstances are described as unique or one off events. They might include family emergencies, a sudden change in circumstances or a once in a lifetime opportunity. Visits from family members or opportunities for discounted holidays will not constitute as exceptional circumstances. Also, in taking any decision to authorise absence the headteacher will also take other factors into account such as a child’s current attendance level.

​Absence procedures

 If your child is absent you must contact us as soon as possible on the first day of absence; preferably before 9am. This can either be via a telephone call, sending us an email, reporting this on Parentmail or reporting to the school office.

If your child is absent we will:

• Telephone you on the first day of absence if we have not heard from you;
• Record and monitor any absence.
• Invite you in to discuss the situation with us if the absence falls below 90%.
• Refer the matter to the local authority if attendance consistently moves near to 85%.

Emergency School Closure Due to Severe Weather

If the school is forced to close due to adverse weather then all parents who have registered with Parentmail will receive a message giving information about the school closure. We use this service to communicate with parents and carers in the event of emergency situations arising.

If Parents and Carers have not registered with Parentmail then they should listen to either BBC Radio Lincolnshire or LincsFM 102.2 who will, as part of their severe weather service, broadcast up-to-date information on the schools within the county that are forced to close and both will also post the information on their website.

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