Robert Mellors

September 8^th 2009

Dear Parent / Carer

Absence During Term Time

The Education Welfare Service are working in partnership with our school to reduce absence and lateness.

Regular and punctual attendance at school is vital to enable your child to achieve his/her full potential. On the reverse of this letter is a chart showing you the likely impact on your child’s education should they be absent. This is based on research, particularly comparing the absence rates of pupils at primary school correlated to what they later achieve at Secondary school. It is for this reason that it is important that where possible holidays are not taken during term time and that your child attends regularly. If your child has 10 days off then they can only achieve 94.7% attendance and that is before any sickness they may have. You can see how quickly these days can amount up and put your child into the amber section of the chart.

Persistent lateness also impacts on your child’s education. When a child is not in on time it is disruptive for both them and the whole class. It also often impacts on their self esteem and their confidence in their work.

If you do apply for your child to be off school due to taking a holiday, please complete a holiday request form well in advance of going and send it into the office. You will be notified by letter if your request has been granted. We do accept that there are exceptional circumstances where you may request leave of absence and that this might be at short notice. It is particularly important that you do not take year two and year six children out of school during the month of May because of the teacher assessment and SAT’s that they have to do.

Thank you reading this information. We are only sending it to you because we want every child in school to have every opportunity to do their very best.

Yours sincerely

Susan Laplanche

Head Teacher