Attendance

Thorncombe St. Mary's Primary Academy is committed to providing a full and efficient educational experience for all pupils. We believe that if pupils are to benefit from education, good attendance is crucial. As a school we do all that we can to ensure maximum attendance for all pupils.

If your child is going to be absent or late

• Telephone: 01460 20525 as soon as you know your child will be absent.
• Or send an email before 8.45am with the reason for the absence.
• State full reason, e.g. temperature, sickness, severe cold.
• Avoid vague reasons such as ‘ill’, or ‘under the weather’.

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.

Absence requests

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. Wherever possible, please ensure you give the school at least 2 weeks' notice. Holiday requests will not be authorised and may be reported to Dorset County Council (in accordance with Government guidelines), which may result in a penalty notice. 

Research shows 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.

Further information can also be found by viewing our Pupil Attendance Policy on the First Federation Trust Website.

Additional information

The class register opens at 8.45am and closes at 9am. If your child arrives after the register has started at 08.45am but before it has closed at 9am, they will be marked as present. If they arrive after 9am, they will be coded as arriving late. If they arrive after 9:15am, they will be coded as (U) which is an unauthorised absence.

Office staff check all class registers between 9am and 9.15am on a daily basis, to identify those pupils who are absent. Where a child is absent from school and we have not received any verbal or written communication from the parent, we initiate the first day contact procedures. 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. If we are still unable to get confirmation as to why the child is not at school, we will proceed to a welfare check (this is a visit to the home address). This is carried out by the senior staff at Thorncombe Primary 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.

Term time holidays and appointments, such as dental and vision, should, where possible, be booked for holidays and weekends.