Attendance

Attending school and arriving on time are vitally important in enabling our children to get the best out of their education at Hatton Park. We expect all children to be at school, on time, unless there is a valid and understandable reason. Learning opportunities start from 8:45 and it is wonderful to see the children arriving in time for the gates to open and then excitedly go to their classes.

The school gates open at 8:45 when children enter school and complete important morning work. The school day starts at 9:00 when the register is taken until 9:05. If your child arrives after 9:00, they must enter through the main office.

If your child is not at school, please let the office know as soon as possible. You can do this via email to office@hattonpark.org or by calling the school on 01223 491620.  Please state your child's name, class and the specific reason for the absence. 

The office will call you if we do not know why your child is not at school and you have not contacted us.  

We are always looking to support parents with attendance and if you require any advice or guidance, please make an appointment to speak to the Headteacher (Senior Attendance Lead) via the school office. 

Arriving and Leaving School

Children in Reception, Year 1 and 2 enter school through the playground gates to the left of the school. Year 1 and 2 can go directly to their classroom doors. The Reception Classes are in the centre of the school and do not have external access. Reception Class staff welcome the children at the back of the school where they walk to their classroom along a short corridor. Parents are very welcome to accompany them in the first few days.

At the end of the day Year 1 and 2 children are dismissed form their classroom doors. Reception children are brought out to the main playground are dismissed to their parents/carers. KS2 children are brought to the front of the school to be dismissed to their parents. Due to increased numbers of children now in KS2, Year 5 will be dismissed from the main playground. Children will only be handed to the adult responsible for collection. Please ensure that the school is informed if someone else is picking your child up from school. If, for any reason, a parent has not arrived to collect their child, the child will return to school with their teacher who will then contact the parent.

In the case of an emergency please let the school know by telephone if you are going to be delayed at the end of school or if someone else is going to collect your child.

Illness

If your child is not going to be in school because they are unwell, please inform the office as soon as you can. Either call and speak to a member of staff, leave a voicemail or send an email to the office. If they have sickness and/or diarrhoea, they must stay off school for 48 hours from when symptoms end. For all other illnesses please call the office every day to update us on how your child is. 

Unauthorised Absence

An absence is classified as unauthorised when a child is away from school without the permission of both the school and the parent/carer or if the child is away from school without good reason even with the support of a parent/carer (e.g. shopping or a birthday).

Holidays taken within the school term (except in exceptional circumstances agreed by the Headteacher) will be deemed as unauthorised absence. The expectation of the Local Authority is that term-time holidays should not be planned or booked as they are likely to lead to the issuing of a penalty notice.  Parents /carers who take their children on unauthorised, term-time holidays or whose child is persistently absent over a given period, may be issued with a penalty notice or subject to court proceedings for failing to ensure their child’s regular school attendance under section 444 of the Education Act 1996.

Any parent who takes a child out of school for term-time leave for 10 consecutive or non-consecutive sessions (10 days) or more over a 10 week period, not authorised by the school (under exceptional circumstances rule), may receive a Penalty Notice.

NB. To clarify, the ‘10 weeks’ is not fixed, and is a trigger period for schools to identify if there may be a concern with attendance. Any legal action that is subsequently taken may be for a longer period if addressing multiple absences, but it may be shorter if dealing with a specific single period of absence of 10 sessions or more e.g. for an unauthorised holiday of 1 week.

The 10 sessions can be made up of any combination of unauthorised absence, examples of this are:

· 4 sessions of ‘holiday’ taken in term time plus 6 sessions of arriving late after the register has closed (U codes) within a 10-week period.

· 10 sessions within one week or spanning over the end/start of 2 weeks.

· 6 sessions of ‘holiday’ in week 1 followed by 4 sessions of absence on subsequent weeks.

· 4 sessions at the end of one half-term or term, followed by 6 sessions at the start of the next half-term or term. Terms can also be in different academic years.

· 10 sessions taken as individual or consecutive days over a number of weeks but within a 10-week period.

Exceptional circumstances will be considered on an individual basis, but the following will not meet the criteria:

Cheaper holidays in England or abroad

Visiting family or friends who have different half term holiday dates

Visits to see family abroad

Family weddings (unless immediate family and then only for the wedding itself)

Relatives coming to visit

If you do need to make a request for term time exceptional leave of absence, then the form is attached below.