Attendance Policy
Our 2024-25 Attendance Policy is here and some further details and practical advice are below:
Firstly, a very useful link for parents with official advice about when children who are unwell should attend school can be found here. We will follow this guidance when advising parents about attendance. Another useful guide from the UK Health Security Health Protection Team about infectious diseases can be found here.
Pensford Primary places a huge importance on daily attendance. Families should, as an aspiration, target that their children should be in school 100% of the time. Regular attendance has a vital impact on the amount of progress a child can make. Clearly, there are times when a child for one reason or another cannot attend school (eg through sickness) but we encourage parents to help make these occasions an absolute minimum.
If you are considering a holiday in term time, please read this important information first.
Please note that current guidance on COVID-19 (January 2023) says, "It is not recommended that children and young people are tested for COVID-19 unless directed to by a health professional."
There are some limited, exceptional occasions when we can authorise a planned absence (see item 7. of our attendance policy). However, most requests that we have had in the past have not constituted 'exceptional circumstances' and it has therefore not been possible to authorise them. Parents need to be aware that unauthorised absence can lead to the issuing of a Fixed Penalty Notice, resulting in a fine. Fines are issued per parent, per child.
Here is an extract from Bath and North East Somerset’s Family Holiday in Term Time Advice for Parents:
- Time off school for family holidays is not a right.
- If unauthorized, Penalty Notices may be issued to each parent of each child for each holiday taken in term time. The penalty is £120 per parent per child if payment made within 28 days. If payment is made within 21 days the penalty is reduced to £60. If payment is not made within 28 days parents will be prosecuted in the Criminal Court where on conviction they may be fined up to £1000.
Attendance and punctuality is monitored externally by Bath and North East Somerset Council's Children Missing Education Department.
If you need to request a planned absence from school (such as for a medical appointment) please click here.