Tirlebrook Primary School

Attendance

Regular attendance and punctuality at school is vital. At Tirlebrook Primary School we wish to maximise the opportunities for children to explore, enjoy and excel together and create lasting friendships with other children. We promote excellent attendance to ensure that all pupils benefit academically and socially from their time with us. We aim for all children to have an attendance of 100%. We also seek to reduce the number of authorised and unauthorised absences. To see the impact of attendance on a child’s progress during their time at school, see the School Attendance Leaflet below.

The school works closely with the Attendance Team at Gloucestershire County Council and are obliged to refer parents to them for possible Penalty Notice fines or prosecution where:

1. A child has an unauthorised absence for a holiday for 10 or more sessions.
2. A child is continually late to school and this lateness is unauthorised for 10 or more sessions.
3. A child has unauthorised absence during a public exam, formal school assessment or testing, where dates are published in advance.

Timings of the School Day
8:40am School gates open
8:48am Bell rings and children line up to go into school.
08:50am The children go into class and the school day begins.
The Playground gate closes shortly after 8:50am.                                                                                                                                                                 

The register is taken in class. Any children arriving after this time will need to go through the school office where they must be signed in by an adult in the late book.  They will receive a late mark (L, before registers closed) on their attendance record.
09:15 Any children arriving after this time may receive a late mark (U, after registers closed) on their attendance record. This is an unauthorised absence.
09:30 If a child is not in school and there has not been any contact from parents to explain the absence, the office will send a text message asking for parents to telephone the school.
09:45 If no contact has been made, the office will telephone parents on home and mobile numbers.
3:10pm The school day ends for Infant children (Reception, Y1 & Y2), they are handed over to parents on the playground.
3:15pm The school day ends for Junior children (Y3, Y4, Y5 & Y6), they are handed over to parents onto the playground via their classroom.                                                   As part of our safeguarding procedures, we request that when there are changes to pick up arrangements that parents communicate this to school in a timely manner. Whenever changes have been made, and school has not been informed, there will be a phone call to parents for confirmation.                                                                As set out above, parents are required to collect their children on time or make acceptable alternative arrangements for collection.                                                         We run an After School Club that parents can book places for online (Tirlebrookers After School Club).                                                                                                        Where parents are persistently late collecting their children from school a phone call will be made to social services for advice.

Medical Appointments
Where possible, medical and dental appointments should be arranged for the end of the day, not the start of the day. Arriving late, even after a medical appointment, is unsettling not just for your child, but also the rest of the class.

Illness
Parents should contact the school office on 01684 293549 each day their child is ill. Please ensure you provide details of the illness, ‘feeling ill/unwell’ are not sufficient. For illnesses lasting longer than 3 days, you may be required to provide medical evidence otherwise the absence may not be recorded as authorised.

Holidays During Term Time
In accordance with current legislation regulations imposed by the Government, leave of absence can only be granted when exceptional circumstances apply.

Request forms are available from the school office, or via the link below. Requests for an absence from school will be considered and if it doesn’t meet the exceptional circumstances criteria, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. When unauthorised absences are recorded the Local Authority is notified and a Penalty Notice fine of £60 (rising to £120) per parent per child may be issued by the Local Authority. These Penalty Notices are now being issued without Prior warning. If a request form is not received and the child is absent from school, this may still result in a Penalty Notice.

Please be aware that parents are not able to make use of our After School Club (Tirlebrookers After School Club) or extra-curricular clubs on days when their child is absent from school. 

It is always best to be honest with the school regarding absences.