Attendance

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Regular, punctual school attendance is an important part of giving your child the best possible start in life. 

Please report your child’s absence by either phoning the school office on 01392 255569 or by email stdavids@ventrus.org.uk giving the reason why by 9.10am.

We have a 48 hour rule for any sickness/diarrhoea to try to prevent any outbreaks. Please ensure that if your child has suffered with either of these, they remain absent from school for a clear 48 hour period from the last attack.

Where a child is absent from school and we have not received any verbal or written communication from the parent as to the reason for the child’s absence we will initiate our first day absence procedures. Firstly, an absence alert text is sent to parents. If we receive no response, we will then proceed to telephone all contacts held on the child’s records, as supplied by the parents upon admission to the school. If at this point we have not been able to make contact to ascertain the reason for the child’s absence we may carry out a home visit. This is the school’s duty of care and safeguarding for your child.

Regular attendance is extremely important as missing school can have an impact on learning, and is, of course, a legal requirement. Good attendance enables pupils to keep up with the work required. All children’s attendance is monitored throughout the year.

As a parent it is your legal responsibility, as stated under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996, to ensure that your child attends the school at which he/she is registered, regularly and punctually. It is vital that if your child is absent from school for any reason that we are informed. If we are not informed on the day and provided with a valid reason for absence, it
will be recorded as unauthorised.

We have a legal duty to inform Devon County Council of unauthorised absences which may result in penalty notices being issued. These can be issued for all unauthorised absences and persistent lateness – not just when holidays are taken.

Medical evidence may be requested if excessive absence due to illness is recorded. ie. Appointment cards/letters or sight of medication if prescribed anti –biotics etc

Some absence facts:

• There are 365 days a year – you only have to attend school for 190 of those.
• If you are 5 minutes late every day… that adds up to 3 days lost per year.
• If you are 15 minutes late every day… that adds up to almost 10 days lost every year.
• If you are absent from school for 1 day a week throughout your school life… you will be missing 2 years of your education.
• If you are absent from school for 1 day every half a term throughout your whole school life, you will miss, in total, 3 months of education, 90% attendance throughout your school life = missing 1 whole year of education.