Reporting Absences

If your child is going to be absent from school, for any reason, it is imperative you let us know as soon as possible. You can do this by leaving a telephone message for our Attendance Officer, Mrs Berry. The number is 020 8462 2767, select option 1. You need to leave your child’s name, their tutor group and the reason for their absence. When your child is able to return to school, we would appreciate you giving them a note for the tutor/attendance officer to confirm their absence and the reason for it. A note in your child’s planner is not sufficient as they are not
seen by the Attendance Officer.

If you notify us your child is off sick one day and they do not appear the next, we will not assume they are still unwell. We kindly request you call us every day your child is going to be absent.
We run an automatic truancy call system on an ad hoc process so if your child is marked absent during morning registration it is possible you will receive one of these calls.

Errors do sometimes occur during registration when a child is marked absent by mistake so if you are contacted by the automated system and your child should be in school, please let us know and we will do a lesson check.

There are numerous activities which mean students miss registration such as assemblies, sports, educational visits or additional lessons. Unfortunately notification of these may not always find their way to the Attendance Officer so you may receive letters from us too.

We write to parents on a monthly basis if a student has any unexplained absences on their attendance record. We do not wish to offend any parent, or indeed any student, by appearing to accuse them of playing truant. We simply wish to ensure our students are safe and their whereabouts are known by you if we find they are not in school.

A quick telephone call and a letter from you could save us all time later on and will reduce the number of unexplained absences we have to resolve. Lastly, holidays during term time should not be taken. However, we do understand that sometimes they cannot be avoided and such instances will be acknowledged by the school but they will not be authorised.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Hayley J Berry, Attendance Officer