Attendance

Southway is committed to providing the very best possible education and we believe that regular attendance is essential to every child’s success. 

Research links attendance with achievement, indicating that even occasional broken weeks can have a negative effect on children’s progress. We believe that the most important factor in promoting good attendance is the development of positive attitudes towards school.

Celebrating Attendance

We celebrate individual children’s attendance by sending home special letters and we award classes who have the highest attendance each week.

Lateness

The law requires children to attend school regularly and this includes arriving on time each day. It is a parent’s responsibility to ensure that their child arrives promptly for registration. The registers are taken at 8.45am and close at 9.05am. Children arriving between these times will be marked as late, children arriving after 9.05am will be recorded as absent for the morning session.

Illness

If your child is too unwell to attend school, please call the school’s dedicated absence line before 9.00am on 01243 810200 and press 1 to report your child absent.  Please leave a brief message stating your child’s name and class, the reason for absence and likely date of return. 

Please be aware that any absences with reasons not provided are recorded as unauthorised. If your child is off sick, the school may ask you to provide supporting evidence. This can be a medical appointment card, a copy of a prescription or prescribed medication for your child. The school reserves the right to code absence as unauthorised where no such evidence is provided. 

Medical Appointments

Whenever possible, medical appointments should be made outside school hours. If it is absolutely necessary for your child to attend a medical appointment during the school day, we will need to see an appointment card in order to authorise the absence.

Holidays in term time

A head teacher can only grant a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. A family holiday during term time does not qualify as “exceptional circumstances” so these requests for leave of absence will be refused. 

Exceptional Circumstances

The Government has directed Headteachers to only permit an absence during term time in ‘exceptional circumstances’.  The term, ‘exceptional’ has not yet been fully defined in law, however, it is accepted that the underlying principles of the term is the event is, ‘rare, unavoidable and short’ and by ‘unavoidable’ it is meant that the event could not be scheduled at any other time.  A holiday in term time is avoidable as it can be scheduled when a child isn’t legally required to attend school.  The school will consider authorising holidays for parents who provide evidence from employers, stating that leave for the adult cannot be granted at any other time.

If you consider that your request for absence is exceptional, please complete an Absence Request Form

Please be aware that if your request is declined and you nevertheless take your child out of school, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.