ABSENCE / LATE PROCEDURES FOR COMBATING PERSISTENT ABSENTEEISM
UPDATED Sept 2025
- Child absent – Office staff member with responsibility – sends standard text to all absentees after registers have closed- by 10am.
Please contact us urgently with the reason for your child’s absence. You may receive a welfare check if we don’t hear from you by 1pm. Thank you
- If parent rings back or contacts school – authorise or not depending on the reason
- At 11.30 am, if still no contact, send repeated text:
Please contact us urgently with the reason for your child’s absence. You may receive a welfare check if we don’t hear from you by 1pm. Thank you
- If no contact is made or reason known, 2 members of staff will visit the address (same day whenever possible).
- All unauthorised absences (including holidays), Penalty Warning letters to be sent by Office staff member with responsibility
- All communication with parents/ etc are added to CPOM with ATTENDANCE icon
- Depending on the case, EWO/other family contact called/other educational setting called and ultimately MASH if required.
- After 4 weeks of no contact, an office staff member with responsibility will send out an off-roll warning letter with an expected return date/deadline to return?
- EWO on site – (3 hours per week every Wednesday) – all families with concerns discussed – invites parents in for meetings.
- If absolutely no contact from a family after EWO has checked council tax check, benefits check, other contact/school etc and any other trails of info depending on the case, EWO does a CME (child missing in education) referral to CME team.
- Once that process has been completed, EWO informs the school if we can take the child off role.
- Fines – if previous warning letters have been ignored with no evidence sent to school, an office staff member with responsibility completes a penalty request, and sends it to the local authority who has the final decision on whether a fine is incurred.
Lates:
Pupils arriving after 8:45am go through the office, giving a reason for late arrival. Office staff member with responsibility gives the child a late slip that the child gives to the class teacher.
Proactive actions:
- Penalty holiday letters sent to key families who historically return late at the end of each term, before a long holiday.
- Closely monitoring key group WEE/PP- School Improvement Priority
- SLT/ Parent Support Worker to support families to understand the importance of coming every day.
- Newsletter has prompts about the importance of attending everyday.
- Attendance posters in the office in different languages and on website.
- Attendance team created: Weekly meeting to monitor attendance.
Attendance procedures
Use the below flyers to help you understand our attendance procedures.