Attendance
School Attendance
At Orwell Multi Academy Trust, we expect all children to be in school every day, unless they are too ill to attend. Term time holiday will not be authorised and will result in a fine. Unauthorised absence will result in legal intervention. Every school in the Trust has staff who can support you with your child’s attendance, so we ask that you work with us to ensure that your child is in school, on time, every day.
Is my child too ill for school?
Why Do We Worry About Attendance?
A 90% attendance rate means that a child is missing the equivalent of one half day of lessons every week. If that child has a 90% attendance rate through KS1 and KS2 they will have missed half a school year in that time. A child with an 80% attendance over 5 years misses one complete year of school. That works out at missing 40 days of education in each year – just over one day per week, every week. So if pupils remain at 80% attendance from Year 1 to year 11 they will miss more than 2 full years of education. That’s why we worry about attendance!
What Do I Do If My Child Is Unwell?
Children should not be kept off school for vague symptoms such as tiredness or headache. However, a child who is obviously unwell at the beginning of the day should not be sent to school.
In consideration of your own child and others:
- Please do not send your child to school within 24 hours of the last occasion of vomiting and/or diarrhoea.
- The school reserves the right to temporarily increase the absence period to 48 hours in the event of an outbreak of an illness within a class or across the school.
- Please do not send your child with any infectious diseases even if they seem well – they will be sent home and you will be asked to seek medical advice/medication.
Should your child become ill during the day you will be contacted through your designated contact number.
Absence: If your child is absent it is important that you telephone the school office by 9:30am on each day that they are unable to attend. Where a reason for an absence is not provided this will be marked as Unauthorised. Unauthorised absences are discussed with the Education Welfare Officer.