We expect every child to attend school every day, and be punctual every day, so they can learn to the best of their ability.  The attendance of children at school is a legal requirement and is taken seriously by the school. Our Attendance Policy can be found below.  You can also read here the 'Working Together to Improve School Attendance' from the Department for Education, including what parents' responsibilities are 'As a parent, you are legally responsible for making sure your child gets a suitable fulltime education', as well as clicking on the link below to read the ODST Attendance Statement for all schools.

Attendance is monitored daily by our school Attendance Lead, and phone calls will be made in the first instance where concerns begin to emerge around attendance, including late arrivals.

Any planned absence from school must be requested in advance and we expect such requests to be for exceptional circumstances only. We define ‘exceptional circumstances’ as extreme, unplanned family emergencies, where all efforts to support school attendance have been considered in the first instance.

Absence request forms are available from the school office, or below, and must be completed in full and returned for the attention of the Headteacher. Please note that holidays are not authorised during term time under any circumstance.  For information about school attendance from the Department of Education, please click here and for information from Oxfordshire County Council, please click here.  We expect routine medical appointments, including dental, to be taken outside of the school day.

Penalty Notices

From August 2024, under the new national penalty notice framework, all schools are required to consider a penalty notice when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons.

The fine will be £80 per child, per parent if paid with 21 days, rising to £160 per child, per parent if paid within 28 days.  Please see the FAQs for parents below for more details.