What to do if your child is late, ill or has an appointment?
Lateness
Morning registers are marked by 9am and all students will receive a late mark if they are not in their classroom by that time.
Pupils that arrive after this time will receive a mark to show that they are on site but this will be a late mark.
The morning register closes at 9.30am, all children arriving after this time will receive a mark to show that they arrived late after the register closed.
All late marks have an overall effect on a child's attendance percentage.
Children who are late should come to the main school reception where they will need to be signed in by the adult bringing them to school.
Illness
Children should only be kept off school ill if absolutely necessary. If your child is ill, please telephone or email the school office before 9am (contact details below) with a reason for absence and how long you expect your child to be absent for.
These absences will be recorded as authorised, however, if no contact is made with school the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. If your child is absent for longer than a day contact must be made with school at least every other day.
If an absence is not reported school will make contact with parents.
Telephone - 0161 624 1377, option 1
Email - absence@st-edwards.oldham.sch.uk
Appointments
Where possible appointments should always be made outside of school hours and children should only miss the amount of time necessary for the appointment.
Children who need to leave during the school day for an appointment must be collected from the main entrance by a responsible adult.
Evidence of the appointment should be presented to the office staff.
Absence and Holidays During Term Time
It is against the law to take family holidays during term time. Penalty Notice Fines are issued where family holidays are taken during school time, this follows the Local Authority Policy on attendance in school.
Where unauthorised absence is taken, a fixed penalty notice of £80 per parent, per child (increasing to £160 per parent, per child if not paid within 21 days) can be issued (Section 444(a) of the Education Act 1996 empowers the local authority to issue Penalty Notices to parents/carers).
The Headteacher can, in exceptional circumstances, authorise absence from school but this does not apply to family holidays taken during term time or family weddings abroad.
A leave of absence request form must be completed for all leave of absences.
Click here to download the absence request form
Attendance and Punctuality Awards
We have individual and class rewards to encourage good attendance and punctuality. We post attendance awards on the weekly newsletter and announce winners during the Golden Book assembly each Friday.
Attendance Monitoring
School will monitor the attendance of any child where there is a concern.
We work closely with families to support good attendance, each child is entitled to an education and cannot reach their full potential if they do not attend school regularly. Regular attendance is a key feature of any child's continued progress and success.
The Local Authority School Attendance Officer visits the school regularly to check on attendance and punctuality and makes home visits if necessary along with the Pastoral Lead and/or Headteacher.
Fixed penalty fines can be issued for intermittent or prolonged non-attendance without good reason, or for persistent lateness.
Why is good attendance important?
Missing days of school might not seem very much, but it can have a big effect on your child's education.
Good attendance is crucial to progress and is directly related to success in learning. Making sure your child attends school as much as possible means:
Your child will have the same education and opportunities as everyone else in the class.
You won't need to worry about catching up on work, or that your child might fall behind because of missing an important lesson.
Your child won't miss out on school activities and you are providing them with the opportunity to build and maintain solid friendships.
Does your child need to stay off school?
Children who are slightly unwell should still come to school. Any child too ill to be in school will be sent home.
If your child requires prescribed medicine an adult can come to school to administer it during the school day or you can give school permission to admister the medicine by completing the necessary form.