At Tenterden Primary Federation we believe that attendance and punctuality is vital to ensure that your child has the opportunity to reach their fullest potential, both academically and socially. 

Our attendance target (in line with Government guidelines) is 97%.

Attendance

We are always looking at ways to promote good attendance and to ensure that we keep focused on raising attendance we are working with the Local Authority. 

Unauthorised Absence in Term Time

We also ask that you do not take your children out of school in term time.  Time out of school for family holidays, outings and special events is not a right and we ask that you use the 13 weeks’ annual leave for these occasions.   Examples of reasons that will not be authorised in term time are as follows:

• Persistent non-specific illness eg. unwell/poorly
• Absence of siblings if one child is ill
• Oversleeping
• Inadequate clothing/uniform
• Confusion over school dates
• Medical/dental appointments of more than half a day without very good reasons
• Child’s/family birthday/other family event
• Shopping trip

Unauthorised absence of 5 days (10 sessions) in a term may result in a referral to the Local Authority’s Attendance Service.

Authorised Absence in Term Time – Exceptional Circumstances

Our Executive Headteacher, Mrs McIntosh, and Head of School, Miss Burdett, can authorise leave in exceptional circumstances as highlighted in our school policy, examples of which are:

• for service personnel who are about to be deployed or are returning from deployment, providing the leave will have minimal disruption to the child’s education

• when a family needs to spend time together to support each other during or after a crisis.

In these circumstances, a leave of absence form should be completed which can be downloaded  (Leave of Absence Form) or obtained from the School’s offices.  This should be submitted to the Executive Headteacher/Head of Schools before the planned absence and must be agreed to before the leave begins.

Other Reasons for Authorised Absence in Term Time

Educational Development

We wish to encourage the gifts and talents of all children and so, with evidence of the activity, the we may authorise extra-curricular activities such as dance and music exams or auditions.

Days of Religious Observance

Absence of a pupil for participation in a day set aside exclusively for religious observation by the religious body to which the parents belong is classified as authorised absence.

It would be helpful if the school could be given advance notice of religious observance days.  Thank you.

Punctuality

It is very important that all children are at school on time and every day. A child who is late to school on a regular basis will suffer. A pupil arriving late may seriously disrupt not only their continuity of learning, but also that of others.

Should persistent lateness or early collection be identified, Project 96 procedures will be followed as this impacts on attendance.

Thank you for your continued support in:

• Encouraging your child to attend school.
• Ensuring that they arrive in school on time and are well prepared for the school day, ie. with relevant equipment, PE kit etc.
• Informing us in advance, in writing or via dojo message, if your child will be absent, eg. dentist or doctor appointment.
• Not keeping your child from school for unauthorised reasons, eg. shopping trip or birthday.