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Sherford Vale School and Nursery

Sherford ValeSchool and Nursery

Sherford ValeSchool and Nursery

Attendance / Absence

Statistics show that children who attend school regularly make more progress and achieve better than those who do not.

Every lesson is important, and it can be difficult for children to catch up if they miss too much of their learning, especially given our recent Covid experience.            However, it is highly likely that a child will be unable to attend school at some point, usually due to illness. If this happens, please contact us by telephone, email or note at the earliest opportunity to inform us of the reason for your child being absent. 

If we have not heard from you by 9:20am on the first day of absence, we will text you to alert you to the fact that your child is missing from school.

Absence Requests

The Absence Request form is available from the school office and should be completed by parents/carers when requesting term time absence from school for their child, regardless of whether the absence is for a medical appointment, or any other reason. All requests for absence should be evidenced based, e.g. medical appointment cards, letters from employers etc.

The Local Authority, through the school's Educational Welfare Officer(EWO), regularly checks the attendance of all children at school and will investigate cases of absence when this falls below 96%.

Absence Requests for Term Time Holiday

The government changed their policy regarding school attendance and new legal regulations came into force from September 2013. This means that holidays from school in term time have been removed from the regulations and therefore, headteachers are no longer allowed to authorise absence from school unless it is due to exceptional circumstances. Schools have received specific guidance from the Department for Education which lists reasons that are or are not acceptable.

The Law

The law states that every child must receive a suitable education appropriate to their age, ability and needs. It is the responsibility of parents/carers to make sure that all their children of statutory school age are receiving an education.

The government considers that children should attend school every day when the school is open for pupils, unless there is an unavoidable cause such as illness or other exceptional circumstance. Parents should always provide the school with a reason for an absence. The school will liaise with the Education Welfare Officer when necessary and record the absence as authorised or unauthorised depending on the circumstances.

National research shows that children who attend less than 85% of the time do significantly less well at school.  

Educational Welfare Officer

Should you have any concerns about your child’s attendance or need support, please contact our admin team who will put you in contact with our Educational Welfare Officer, Hayley Galloway.