Attendance
Excellent attendance is fundamental to an excellent education. We have a new Attendance Policy which is available to view on the website. This has been developed in conjunction with local schools and follows the policy outlined by the Education Secretary, stating that children are not to be absent from school for holidays or other non-essential reasons during term time. Only in exceptional or mitigating circumstances will an absence be approved.
ABSENCES
Illness
If your child is unwell and unable to attend school or absent from school for any reason, (including medical appointments) please email the school office, absences@cuddingtoncroft.org or phone the school on 020 8642 4325 before 9.00am. If they are ill for more than one day, please email or phone in daily before 9.00am.
If you phone, there is an answerphone until 8.30am where you can leave a message. After 8.30am, please select option 1 (absence line) to leave a message.
If we do not receive any information from a parent by 9.00am, we will use Parentmail to send a text to parents asking them to phone the school. If we do not hear from you we will pursue all contacts regarding a child’s absence as part of our safeguarding policy. Please email or leave a message by 9.00am each day of their absence.
If your child has either vomiting or diarrhoea, they must stay away from school for 48 hours from the last bout. This is a recommendation from Public Health England to protect other pupils and staff. If a child is sent into school within the 48 hour period, we will contact the parents and ask for the child to be collected from school.
Please provide an email to the school office to cover all absences; this can either be via your daily email notification or if you left a phone message, please send an email when your child returns to school, otherwise the absence will be recorded as 'unauthorised'. Any abence can result in a loss of continuity for your child’s education and upset their balance of learning. As a school, we are required to provide details of all unauthorised absences to the Local Education Authority.
Medical and Dental appointments
We ask that you please make every effort to avoid booking medical and dental appointments during school time. Where this is unavoidable parents should send an email to the school office and attach a scan/copy of the appointment card or letter before the date of the appointment, please also include the time you will need to collect your child and copy in the class teacher so that they are aware. If your child will be late into school because of a medical or dental appointment, please email absences@cuddingtoncroft.org or phone the school (020 8642 4325) on the morning of the appointment before 9.00am. If arriving late please ensure that your child is accompanied by an adult at the school office for safeguarding reasons.
Other Absences
Requests for absence during term time will not be authorised unless there is deemed to be an exceptional circumstance. Parents must make an appointment to see the Inclusion Leader via the school office prior to any potential absence to discuss individual circumstances. Local Authorities have the power to serve parents with a Fixed Penalty Notice if a child has significant or repeated days of unauthorised absence. For further details, please refer to the attendance policy.
