School Attendance
School Attendance
At Prior Heath Infant School, we believe in developing good patterns of attendance and set high expectations for the attendance and punctuality for all our pupils from the outset. The school staff, alongside the Local Authority and Department for Education, strongly believe that all children benefit from regular school attendance in order for them to achieve their full potential. To this end, we will do all we can to encourage parents/carers to ensure that the children in their care achieve our expectation of 100% attendance and that any problems that prevent full attendance are identified and acted upon promptly. It is a central part of our school’s vision, values, ethos and day to day life. We recognise the strong connections between attendance, attainment, safeguarding and wellbeing.
School Attendance
At Prior Heath Infant School, we believe in developing good patterns of attendance and set high expectations for the attendance and punctuality for all our pupils from the outset. The school staff, alongside the Local Authority and Department for Education, strongly believe that all children benefit from regular school attendance in order for them to achieve their full potential. To this end, we will do all we can to encourage parents/carers to ensure that the children in their care achieve our expectation of 100% attendance and that any problems that prevent full attendance are identified and acted upon promptly. It is a central part of our school’s vision, values, ethos and day to day life. We recognise the strong connections between attendance, attainment, safeguarding and wellbeing.
Attendance Leadership & Key Contacts
Senior Attendance Champion
Mrs Lindsey Chivers – Headteacher
Senior leader responsible for the strategic approach to attendance.
Day-to-Day Attendance Contact
Mrs Jill Harris – Senior School Administrator
For daily attendance queries and reporting absence.
Governing Body Attendance Lead
Mrs Ammelia Davidge-Stringer
Governor responsible for monitoring attendance.
Our Commitment to Attendance
The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude, and any special educational need or disability they may have. It is the legal responsibility of every parent to make sure their child receives that education either by attendance at a school or by education otherwise than at a school.
Where parents decide to have their child registered at school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure their child attends that school regularly and on time. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.
The Department for Education (DfE) has produced statutory guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools, and local authorities. It is called “Working together to improve school attendance” and it includes a National Framework in relation to absence and the use of legal sanctions. Our School Attendance Policy (below) reflects the requirements and principles of that guidance.
Our Attendance Ethos
This policy underpins our school ethos to:
- Promote children’s welfare and safeguarding
- Ensure every child accesses their full educational entitlement
- Support every child to succeed
- Provide access to the widest possible range of opportunities
- Encourage lifelong habits of responsibility and commitment
How We Support Strong Attendance
We will:
- Promote a whole-school culture that values high attendance
- Maintain accurate admission and attendance registers
- Submit daily attendance returns to the Department for Education
- Build strong relationships with families and understand barriers
- Monitor attendance data and provide targeted support where needed
- Share attendance updates via termly newsletters
- Contact families when attendance becomes a concern
- Work collaboratively with other schools, the Local Authority and partners when absence risks becoming persistent or severe
Opening Hours:
8:30am – Gates open
8:40am – Classroom doors open
8:50am – Registers taken (doors locked)
9:20am – Registers close
1:00pm – Afternoon registers
2:50pm – End of school day
How We Manage Lateness
- Children arriving after 8:50am must report to the school office
- They will be marked present but recorded as late (‘L’)
- Parents must provide a reason for lateness
- After 9:20am, children are marked ‘U’ (unauthorised absence)
- Parents may be contacted if punctuality becomes a concern
- Governors may occasionally conduct a “Late Gate” check
Leave of Absence
Requesting Leave
A Leave of Absence Request Form must be completed in advance for any planned absence, including medical or dental appointments.
Term-Time Absence
Under the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, Headteachers may only grant leave in exceptional circumstances.
- Requests are considered case-by-case
- Evidence may be required
- Parents will be notified whether absence is authorised
- Unauthorised leave may result in penalty notices
Penalty Notices
The Surrey Attendance Service, acting on behalf of Surrey County Council may issue a Penalty Notice as an alternative to the prosecution of a parent/carer for their child’s unauthorised absence from school and require the recipient to pay a fixed amount. Pupils identified by police and Surrey Attendance Advice Officers engaged on Truancy Patrols and who have incurred unauthorised absences may be issued with a Penalty Notice.
The School Attendance (Pupil Registration)(England) Regulations 2024 state that Head teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Headteacher is required to determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if leave is granted.
Where a child is taken out of school for 10 sessions or more and the ‘leave of absence’ is without the authority of the Headteacher, each parent is liable to receive a penalty notice for each child who is absent. In these circumstances, a warning will not be given where it can be shown that parents had previously been warned that such absences would not be authorised and that they will be liable to receive a Penalty Notice if the leave of absence is taken.
The issue of a Penalty Notice will also be considered where a pupil has incurred 10 or more unauthorised sessions during the preceding 10 school weeks. The parents’ failure to engage with supportive measures proposed by the school will be a factor when considering the issue of a Penalty Notice. Unauthorised absence will include late arrival after the close of registration without good reason.
Section 103 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 places a duty on parents to ensure that their child is not in a public place without justifiable cause during school hours when they are excluded from school. This duty applies to the first five days of each exclusion. Failure to do so will render the parent liable to a Penalty Notice. If the Penalty Notice is not paid, the recipient will be prosecuted for the offence under Section 103. Alternative education provision will be made from the sixth day of any exclusion and failure to attend such provision without good reason will be treated as unauthorised absence.
Penalty Notices
The Surrey Attendance Service, acting on behalf of Surrey County Council may issue a Penalty Notice as an alternative to the prosecution of a parent/carer for their child’s unauthorised absence from school and require the recipient to pay a fixed amount. Pupils identified by police and Surrey Attendance Advice Officers engaged on Truancy Patrols and who have incurred unauthorised absences may be issued with a Penalty Notice.
The School Attendance (Pupil Registration)(England) Regulations 2024 state that Head teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Headteacher is required to determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if leave is granted.
Where a child is taken out of school for 10 sessions or more and the ‘leave of absence’ is without the authority of the Headteacher, each parent is liable to receive a penalty notice for each child who is absent. In these circumstances, a warning will not be given where it can be shown that parents had previously been warned that such absences would not be authorised and that they will be liable to receive a Penalty Notice if the leave of absence is taken.
The issue of a Penalty Notice will also be considered where a pupil has incurred 10 or more unauthorised sessions during the preceding 10 school weeks. The parents’ failure to engage with supportive measures proposed by the school will be a factor when considering the issue of a Penalty Notice. Unauthorised absence will include late arrival after the close of registration without good reason.
Section 103 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 places a duty on parents to ensure that their child is not in a public place without justifiable cause during school hours when they are excluded from school. This duty applies to the first five days of each exclusion. Failure to do so will render the parent liable to a Penalty Notice. If the Penalty Notice is not paid, the recipient will be prosecuted for the offence under Section 103. Alternative education provision will be made from the sixth day of any exclusion and failure to attend such provision without good reason will be treated as unauthorised absence.
Further Information
If you have any questions or require further support regarding your child’s attendance, please contact the school office.