Attendance

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Everyone Values Education. Everyone Attends Every Day!

At Victoria Primary School, we emphasize the importance of regular and punctual school attendance. We all believe through good attendance, children will achieve higher attainment, have better opportunities and establish good habits that will support them throughout their lives.

Our Attendance Lead is Miss Anna Byrne.

We understand that there may be unavoidable circumstances on occasions when your child is absent from school and we would like to take this opportunity to remind you about the school absence procedure.

Illness

Occasionally, your child may wake up on a school day and say that they feel unwell. Parents will assess and decide if they think their child is well enough to attend school or need to be kept at home. If your child has no temperature but has a cough, cold, headache or earache then (as with adults) medical advice is to give them paracetamol (Calpol, etc) and send them to school. We will always contact you if your child’s condition worsens or if we believe it is contagious such as chicken pox, vomiting, etc. If you’re not sure if your child’s illness is classed as infectious or whether they need to be kept off school and for how long, then contact the school office who will offer advice and information.

If you decide that your child is unable to attend school due to illness the following procedure applies:

• If a child is absent from school parents should contact the school on the 1st day of absence by 9:15 am to inform the school of the reason for absence.

• Parents are expected to maintain contact with the school throughout the absence.

It is a school’s decision whether to accept a reason for a child’s absence and whether to authorise that absence. In the majority of cases a parents’ note explaining that their child was ill can be accepted without question. Further evidence of a child’s illness may be requested if their attendance is an ongoing concern.

How can you support regular school attendance?

• Make sure you leave for school early enough so you arrive at school on time.
• Support and encourage your child by attending parent's evenings and other school events
• Contact class teachers to discuss any concerns
• Work in partnership with us to resolve any issues that impact your child's attendance
• Don't take your child out of school for holidays in term time.