Every day matters at school. We have an expectation that all children will attend and be on time to School. However, we understand that, on occasions, children will become ill or need to attend a medical appointment. It is important that if your child cannot attend School, direct contact is made with the School office on the first day of absence by the start of school. If contact is not made the School will make direct contact with parents/carers. If direct contact cannot be made, the matter may be referred to the Education Welfare Office. This is to ensure that all children, absent from School, are accounted for and safe. As the mornings can be extremely busy in school we have a telephone system which allows you to leave a message to report your child absent.

Our school gates open at 8.30am to allow children to arrive and settle into their classes. Registers are taken at 8.45am and if children arrive after this time, they will be marked late in the register. 

We work closely with the Education Welfare Team in regards to attendance and punctuality. 

We work from a principle that Every Day Matters and, as an Education Welfare Team and School team, we recommend a range of strategies to help parents when encouraging their children to attend school. Some of these include:

• Prioritise school with your child. From their early school career onwards, set good routines and expectations for attendance. Chat about school and ask questions about their day. 
• Whilst adhering to health guidelines, send your child into school even if they aren’t 100%. Inform the school and trust them to call you if your child doesn’t feel better as the day goes on. 
• Communicate with school if you, or your child, has any concerns. The earlier you do so, the easier these are to resolve.
• Ask for support from your child’s school. All schools have highly trained and experienced staff who can help. Schools have direct links to outside agencies that can also offer support. With attendance matters specifically, every school has either a school based or allocated central Education Welfare Officer who can offer advice.  
• Avoid taking holidays during term time no matter the time of year or the age of your child.
• Some allowance can be granted at the discretion of the headteacher for exceptional circumstances therefore always contact your school before booking. 

Whilst a single holiday will likely result in you being informed by the school that the absence is being recorded as ‘unauthorised’, repeated holidays will be reported to the Education Welfare Team by the school, and through liaison with the Parish Centeniers, a decision will be made regarding possible legal steps being taken

Click here to read the Government of Jersey attendance policy. 

Please find a link to useful leaflet from the Education Welfare Team.