Absence from School

Every day at school is important and parents/carers should ensure that they do all that they reasonably can to ensure that their child receives their entitlement to the best quality education possible.

The school works to secure good attendance from all pupils by offering support and engaging in constructive working partnerships with pupils, their families/carers, the Local Authority and the CAM academy Trust.

Supporting excellent attendance is the job of all school staff and we will do all we reasonably can to support your child in attending school.

Please refer to our attendance policy (found here) for further details of the processes and legal framework that school works within.

Parents/Carers should be mindful of their legal responsibilities around attendance. Please refer to the local authority information found here .

What to do if your child cannot attend school

We understand that there are some circumstances when a child cannot attend school The NHS provides guidance on when a child should not attend school this can be found at NHS Is my Child Too Ill for School?. We have a medical room which is staffed by First Aid Trained members of staff (including a registered nurse) – if your child is too unwell to be at school or becomes unwell we will contact parents and carers.

For inofrmation on "Learning Remotely" please click this link to take you to the "Remote Learning" page of this website

Same Day - Online Notification

If you child cannot attend school due to illness or other exceptional circumstance please contact the Attendance Officer via email Attendance@combertonvc.org . please include details of:

• Your child’s name
• Their tutor group
• The reason for their absence – please give details of illnesses or other reasons for absence.

Please notify the school by 8am on the first day of absence and then each subsequent day of absence.

Based on the information that you give us we will decide if an absence is ‘authorised’ or ‘unauthorised’ and this will be reflected in your child’s attendance record.

Authorised Absences: are those where the pupil has received authorisation from a teacher or authorised representative of the school or where satisfactory explanations have been received from a parent/carer (e.g. pupil illness.)

Unauthorised Absences: are those where a pupil is absent from school without the permission of a teacher or representative of the school.

If a child is unable to attend due to mental health difficulties please specify this in your communication. Further information on support at the school can be found on our Student Wellbeing page. Please also contact your child’s GP and/or NHS 111 to get advice and guidance on how to support your child.

Same Day - By Phone Message:

For 'same day' notification (short-term illness or doctors' appointments etc) parents/carers can also register pupil absences by phone. Please call the college on 01223 262503. Parents or guardians should leave a message stating pupil name, tutor group and the reason for absence. Parents/carers should notify pupil absences as soon as possible.

If the pupil is absent from school and a notification of absence is not received, the college will record an 'unauthorised absence' against the pupil and a text message will be sent to parents requesting the reason for the absence. 

What to do if your child needs to leave school premises during the school day

If a pupil is due to leave school premises during the school day (perhaps to go to a medical appointment) the parent/carer should also write a short explanatory email to attendance@combertonvc.org copying in their child's teacher. This authorisation will be checked by the pupil's form tutor and/or teacher of the lesson they are leaving. The pupil must also 'sign out' (at the Attendance Office) before leaving the school premises so the school has a record of them being off-site in the event of a fire evacuation or other emergency. The pupil must 'sign in' on their return.  

Please be aware that we will only allow a pupil to leave the school premises during the school day if we have had notification from parents/carers.

 

What to do if your child needs a period of ‘planned absence’

With regards to planned absence, the legal position is clear: parents do not have the right to take their child(ren) out of school for holidays during term time. The school is not able to authorise a ‘term time holiday’ (please see legal guidance from the local authority found here).

A Headteacher may only grant a leave of absence during term time if there are exceptional circumstances full details of which will be required.  If you do seek to withdraw your child(ren) from school during term time please read our guidance note for parents (see left) then you must apply using the application form (on the left of this page also). All sections of this form must be completed, signed and handed to our Attendance Officer, Mrs Solanki not less than two weeks before the absence period requested. Incomplete forms will not be considered. 

The School will consider each request for planned absence on an individual basis taking into account the following factors only after the test of “exceptional circumstances” has been satisfied: the time of year of the proposed trip, if the dates are close to any exam dates, the pupil's overall level of attendance and in particular whether holiday has already previously been taken during any previous school year, the age of the pupil and the ability of the pupil to catch up on the work missed.  

The planned absence forms are also available from the Attendance Office found near the pupils' entrance to school. 

The Education Welfare Officer  

The Cam Academy Trust employs an Education Welfare Officer, Rachael Panther. The school and EWO always try to work with pupils and parents at an early stage to resolve problems. This is nearly always successful. However, the EWO also has a legal role and if other ways of resolving attendance have failed, these officers can use legal sanctions such as Penalty Notices or prosecutions in the Magistrates court. Rachael can be contacted via the school reception.