Attendance

Good Attendance Means being in school at least 95% of the time (between 180 and 190 days)

Is my child too ill for school?

It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they're unwell.

But there are government guidelines for schools that say when children should be kept off school and when they shouldn't.

If you do keep your child at home, it's important to phone the school on the first day. Let them know that they won't be in and give them the reason.

If your child is well enough to go to school but has an infection that could be passed on, such as a cold sore or head lice, let their teacher know.

We require all children at Durrington Infants to have the best possible attendance to enable them to reach their full potential. Equally, parents/carers have a duty to make sure that their children attend school regularly and on time. All of the staff at Durrington Infants are committed to working closely with parents/carers as the best way to ensure the highest possible levels of attendance. Communication between home and school is vital if we are to achieve this and maintain accurate, up to date attendance records for our students.

As a school we would appreciate your support in the following ways:

• Telephone the school before 8.30am to tell us why your child is absent and when you expect them to return, with a letter to explain absence.
• Keep in regular contact with the school if they are likely to be absent for a period of time.
• Only allow your child to stay at home for genuine illness.  (We follow Public Health England’s guidance.)
• Ensure your child arrives in good time and prepared to start the school day by 8.40am.
• Avoid booking non-urgent medical appointments during the school day.
• Ensure you sign your child in and out of school for any authorised appointments they need to attend.
• If you have any concerns or need to talk to us about your child please contact us so we can support you and your child and resolve any issues.
• Always praise good attendance and punctuality.

Leave of Absence Requests

For the academic year 2024-25 your child will have in total 14 weeks of school holiday for family holidays and planned events. Therefore, leave of absence will not be granted for the purposes of a family holiday.

We also recognise that there may be times when there are exceptional circumstances during term which means your child cannot attend school. We want to be clear with you about what exceptional circumstances are. Examples include illness, urgent medical appointments, observations of religious events, attending a school interview.

My child’s attendance needs to improve

Firstly, please remember, you have continuous access to your child’s attendance information through the Arbor App. You can you see your child’s attendance, authorised absences and any unauthorised absences.

From time to time, a child may find it challenging to attend school regularly. We want to help and support you and your child so in the first instance, please contact and talk to your child’s teacher so you can talk about any potential barriers to your child wanting to come to school and what we can do to remove them.  You can also talk to Mrs Day who is our dedicated member of staff who overseas pupil attendance.

We also review pupil attendance each week and if we notice that your child’s attendance is falling below what we would expect, we will contact you to talk about how we can support you and your child with any barriers to good attendance. 

We always try to improve attendance by working with you because as parents, you know your child best. From time to time, we may decide that the best course of action for your child is to work with external agencies but if that is the case, we will fully involve you in that process.

Attendance Policy 2024-25

The Department for Education (DfE) has updated their policy around pupil attendance which is reflected in our school policy. Please take time to read this policy as there have been considerable changes.

Please note key changes to the following:

• Attendance codes we will now be using
• There is no longer any option for schools to authorise, under any circumstances, term time holidays
• Penalty notices issued for attendance

Click here to see our school policies, including our attendance policy

Penalty Notice 

Please read the Wiltshire Council Local Authority leaflet which explains Penalty Notices issued for unauthorised leave of absence during term time. Copies of this leaflet are also available via the school office. 

Attendance and behaviour - Wiltshire Council