The office staff will be outside welcoming children to school each morning.

Office opening times are from 8.30am to 4pm.

Parents / Carers are requested to telephone the office on 01626 862605 and leave a message on the absence line (option 1) before 8.50am if their child is going to be absent/late. The reason for absence must be in full i.e. sickness on Sunday, temperature, severe cold etc. Please do not leave vague messages i.e. unwell, ill or under the weather as the school office will have to call you back for more information.

Where a child is absent from school and we have not received any verbal or written communication from the parent, then we initiate a first day contact process. Office staff check all class registers between 9.10am and 9.30am on a daily basis, to identify those pupils who are absent. If no message is left with the school office we will telephone in turn each of the contacts on the list provided by the parents, until a contact has been reached to advise why the child is not at school. If we are still unable to get confirmation as to why the child is not at school, we will proceed to carry out a welfare check (this is a visit to the home address). This is normally carried out by the senior staff from the school or the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO). If we are still unable to confirm the child's welfare, we will call 101 to report the child as missing. This is the school’s duty of care and safeguarding for your child.

The registration bell goes at at 8.50am and the class register opens and closes at 9.00am. If you child arrives after the register has started around 8.55/9.00am but before it has closed at 9.00am they will be coded as late (L). If they arrive after 9.00am they will be coded as arriving after the register has closed (U) which is an unauthorised absence.

The school attendance policy (available to view in Key Information) states that the attendance of children who arrive late will be registered as follows:

• A child arriving after the register has started but before the register has closed will be coded as “late” (code L).
• A child arriving after the register has closed will be coded as “Late after registration closed” (code U). This is counted as an “Unauthorised Absence” (see appendix for use of other codes).
• The times from which children will be marked as “late” or “late after registration closed” will be clearly communicated to parents.

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.

If your child needs to be away from school, for any reason, please complete an absence request form (S2) or bring in a copy of the medical appointment letter/card. All holiday requests for children  are unauthorised, unless there are exceptional circumstances and any absence over 10 sessions (5 days) are reported to Devon County Council in accordance with Government guidelines, which may result in a penalty notice.

We always strive for high attendance at Gatehouse Primary Academy and work closely with the Attendance Improvement Office to raise children's attendance. Please be advised that 6 missed sessions per half term (3 days) would put a child in a persistent absence category and the Attendance Improvement Office may become involved.

We are sure you will appreciate that good attendance in school correlates to the educational achievements of children. Official research by the DfE shows, in general, the higher the percentage of sessions missed across the Key Stage, the lower the likely level of attainment at the end of Key Stage 2. In particular, pupils with no absence are 1.6 times more likely to achieve Age Related Expectations or above, and 4.7 times more likely to achieve above Age Related Expectations than pupils that missed 15-20% of all sessions.

Being late for school reduces learning time and does not prepare your child or young person for their future working lives.

• Arrival 5 minutes late every day = 3 days of learning missed each year
• Arrival 15 minutes late every day = 10 days or 2 weeks of learning each year.

• Always inform the school if your child is absent.
• Talk openly to your child about school and work in partnership with the school to best support them.
• Encourage your child to attend regularly and advocate, speak up on behalf of their needs.
• Arrange medical or dental appointments outside of school hours when possible.
• Establish good morning and bedtime routines.
• Support your child to arrive at school on time.
• Take truancy seriously – consider where are they? Who are they with? What are they doing?
• Where possible attend parent consultations and school events.
• Value and acknowledge achievements in school.
• Take family holidays, visit family outside of term time.

By law, all children of compulsory school age (between 5 and 16 yrs) must get a suitable, full-time education. As a parent you are responsible for making sure this happens.
Parents and carers commit an offence if a child does not attend school regularly and the absence is not agreed by the school.

Schools can only agree absences for a limited range of exceptional circumstances, these are typically absences that are completely unavoidable. Absences that will not be agreed might include:

• Arrival after registers have closed.
• Absences that are not properly explained.
• Day trips and holidays in term time.
• Leaving the school without school authorisation during the day.

Repeated unauthorised absences may be referred to Devon County Council for Parent Responsibility measures to improve attendance.

Do not be afraid to ask for help if a problem arises. Parents and carers should reach out to the school to explore how they can support and/or contact other services available to help.

• Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership www.devonscp.org.uk/
• Public Health Nursing Hubs Tel: 03332 341 910 www.devon.gov.uk/educationandfamilies/health/public-health-nursing/
• Early Help:
  • Northern Devon: Earlyhelpnorthsecure-mailbox@devon.gov.uk
  • Southern Devon: Earlyhelpsouthsecure-mailbox@devon.gov.uk
  • Mid & East Devon: Earlyhelpmideastsecure-mailbox@devon.gov.uk
  • Exeter: Earlyhelpexetersecure-mailbox@devon.gov.uk
• Devon Independent Advisory Service devonias@devon.gov.uk