At Salford Priors Church of England Academy, we place great importance on full attendance at the academy as we know that missing education has a really detrimental impact on the progress that children make.

Full attendance is a vital part of a child's academic and social success. The academy seeks to ensure that all its pupils receive a full-time education to make the most of their opportunities to realise their full potential.  Staff work with pupils and their families to ensure each pupil attends school regularly and punctually. We can help with advice and support if you are experiencing any issues around attendance and punctuality.

The attendance officer will contact parents to discuss how attendance can be improved if a child's attendance falls below 90%

Children should be at the academy, on time, every day the academy is open, unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. Permitting absence from the academy without a good reason is an offence by the parent. The academy has a legal duty to promote attendance and is required to publish attendance figures.
 

Every half-day absence has to be classified by the academy, (not by the parents), as either AUTHORISED or UNAUTHORISED.  Authorised absences are mornings or afternoons away from the academy for a good reason like illness or other unavoidable cause.  Unauthorised absences are those which the academy does not consider reasonable and for which no 'leave' has been given. This includes:
- Parents keeping children off unnecessarily, eg. shopping trips
- Truancy before or during the academy day
- Absences which have never been properly explained
- Children who arrive at the academy too late to get a mark
 

Occasionally a child may be reluctant to attend the academy. Any problems with regular attendance are best sorted out between the academy, the parents and the child. If a child is reluctant to attend, it is never better to cover up their absence or to give in to pressure to excuse them from attending. This gives the impression that attendance does not matter and may make things worse.

Punctuality
Being on time is important to your child's education. If a child is persistently late, they miss the start of lessons which may have a negative impact on their learning, confidence and self-esteem. Lateness disrupts your child, their class and the staff working with them.  School begins at 8:40am, when the children come into the academy. The gates close at 8:55, after which time children should enter through the academy office.

Being 5 minutes late every day will result in your child losing around three learning days a year.
Being 15 minutes late every day equates to having two complete weeks off a year.
Being 30 minutes late daily equates to losing nineteen learning days a year.

Persistent lateness can result in a penalty notice being issued, which carries a fine.

Sickness

If your child is absent through sickness or any unavoidable cause, please contact the academy by telephone by 9.00am on the first day of absence. This will be an authorised absence.

Appointments of any kind, such as a doctor’s or dentist's appointment, should be arranged outside of academy hours where possible.  If this is unavoidable, please let the academy office know and this will be authorised.

Children returning to the academy after illness should clearly be fit to do so and free from any infection.

Academy Closure

Academy closures will be announced as soon as the information has been verified and become available via the following methods:

• Bromcom and ClassDojo using texts and emails
• Academy website
• Local radio station
• Warwickshire website: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/schoolclosures 

Term Time Holidays

Government guidance does not permit parents to take children on holidays during term time except under the most exceptional circumstances.

If you do decide to take your child on a family holiday that has not been authorised, their absence will be recorded as 'unauthorised' and could result in a prosecution and a fine.

Our full Attendance Policy is available on our Policies page here.

Warwickshire County Council - Notices to Parents / Carers

LEAVE OF ABSENCE DURING TERM TIME - UPDATED INFORMATION FOR PARENTS (Sept 2024)

The Supreme Court has clarified the law on unauthorised leave, including holidays, during term time (Platt v Isle of Wright 2017). The Supreme Court has made clear that attending school ‘regularly’ means that the children must attend school on every day that they are required to do so. As such, the parents of any child who is absent from school without authorisation for any length of time are likely to be considered as committing an offence under s444 of the Education Act 1996.

The law states a leave of absence may only be granted by a school if an application is made in advance and if it considers there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application.

Schools must judge each application individually considering the specific facts and circumstances and relevant background context behind each request.

A leave of absence is granted entirely at the school’s discretion. Generally, a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation would not constitute an exceptional circumstance.

Where a leave of absence is granted, the school will determine the number of days a pupil can be absent from school.

When making an application for Leave of Absence parents are advised to give sufficient information and time to allow the Head teacher the opportunity to consider all the exceptional circumstances and to notify parents of their decision.  The school may also request further information on the application and supporting documentation where appropriate.

It is advised that if the resident parent has not received notification or a response regarding the leave of absence application, it is the parents’ responsibility to ascertain if the leave is authorised prior to the start of the leave.

The school can only consider Leave of Absence requests which are made by the ‘resident’ parent ie the parent with whom the child normally resides.

Where applications for leave of absence are made in advance and refused, the child is expected to be in school on the dates set out in the application. If the child is absent during that period, it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.  Where a leave of absence is requested, but additional days taken either prior to or after the request may be considered as part of the leave of absence.

Leave of Absences which are not made in advance cannot be authorised in line with legislation.  This will result in the absence being recorded as ‘unauthorised’. 

All matters of unauthorised absence relating to a Leave of Absence will be referred to the Warwickshire Attendance Service, part of Warwickshire County Council.  Penalty Notices are issued in accordance with Warwickshire County Council’s Code of Conduct for Penalty Notices and in the first instance, as an alternative to prosecution proceedings. 

Leave of Absence taken in the academic year 2024-25

The law relating to Penalty Notices changed with effect from 19 August 2024. Therefore, Penalty Notices issued for Leave of Absence taken from September 2024 will be issued in accordance with the updated legislation.

• Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each absent child, (for example 2 children and 2 parents, means each parent will receive 2 invoices – 4 in total). 
  • First Leave of Absence offence:  The Penalty Notice amount of £160 to be paid within 28 days, this is reduced to £80 each child if paid within 21 days.
  • Second Leave of Absence offence within a 3 year period (from the date of issue of the first penalty notice): The amount of £160 paid within 28 days.  No reduced amount.
• Payment plans will not be offered and/or payments received outside of the 28 day period will not be accepted. Where a penalty notice expires unpaid the matter will be referred to Warwickshire County Council’s Legal Services to consider criminal prosecution.  
• Third Leave of Absence offence within a 3 year period (from the date of issue of the first penalty notice):  A penalty notices will be not be issued and the matter will be referred to Warwickshire County Council’s Legal Services to consider instigating criminal prosecution proceedings under S444 of Education Act 1996.

Your child’s progress academically as well as socially is our shared priority.