Attendance

Success in school is first and foremost about turning up! Children who come to school more always do better. Please see The School Day page for timings. Don't be late!

If you think you might struggle to drop your children at school on time have you considered our Before School Club?

First day calling and notification of absence:

The school has in place a system of first day calling. This means that parents will be telephoned on the first day a pupil is absent with no explanation, to establish a reason for absence.

If your child is going to be absent from school, please telephone the school office on 01473 251333 on the day, informing the reason for absence. Alternately you could send an email to admin@sthelensprimary.net or use the schools online absence form.

Requests for non-attendance:

If you need to take your child out of school for a day or more, you should put in a request for absence.

If you are planning on a term time holiday, you should be aware that no holiday absence will be authorised and absence over 3 days is likely to incur a fine. Only exceptional circumstances will be authorised during the school term. You are more than welcome to submit evidence with any requests to be considered, however the law is clear and children should be in school during term time to ensure they get the best education they can.

EWO involvement:

Where there is an emerging pattern of a pupil's absence, the school will invite parents to a meeting to discuss the reasons for absences. Support may be offered or put in place in order to improve a pupil's attendance. If there continues to be unauthorised absences, the matter will be referred to the Education Welfare Officer (EWO). At St. Helen's, referrals to the EWO service may occur after six continuous sessions of unauthorised absence (three school days) or where we have identified a set pattern of unauthorised absences totalling six sessions (for example, consistently missing school on a Friday for three weeks running).