Attendance
At St. Thomas' Catholic Primary School we have high expectations and aim for at least 97% attendance from every pupil.
We are proud of our pupils attendance rates and the parental support that helps achieve this. We actively promote 100% attendance for all our pupils and we use a variety of awards to promote good attendance and punctuality.
Each week, we celebrate the attendance and punctuality of our pupils at our celebration assembly. We award Attendance Ted and Punctuality Pup to the class or classes with the best attendance and punctuality that week. These classes get a 'shout out' in our weekly newsletter. This also keeps parents up to ate with trends in attendance.
Parental Responsibility
Parents have a legal duty to ensure that their children attend school regularly and arrive on time.
Regular attendance is essential to enable children to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them and to make good progress in their learning.
Poor attendance undermines educational attainment and progress.
It is the parents’ responsibility to contact the school on the first day their child is absent. Parents need to contact the school office:
This is a safeguarding requirement so that all parties know that your child is safe and their whereabouts is known. Parents should regularly update the school and inform the school when their child is returning.
Pupils are expected to arrive by 8.45am.
All pupils that arrive late must report, with their parent to the school office where the reason for lateness is recorded in the late book.
School Responsibility
School will contact you if you child has not arrived at school and there has been no notification. Again, this is a safeguarding requirement.
Only the Headteacher can authorise absence using a consistent approach as laid out in our policy.
Parent's may request an authorised absence and should speak to the office giving as much notice as possible.
Please note that he Headteacher is not obliged to accept a parent’s explanation or to authorise an absense.
A letter or telephone message from a parent does not in itself authorise an absence. If absences are not authorised, parents will be notified. If no explanation is received, absences will not be authorised.
Absence (for example leave for holidays) during term time can only be approved in “exceptional circumstances”.
You can find more details in our attendance policy.
The school is obliged to issue penalty notices and these will be issued in accordance with Kent County Council’s Education Penalty Notices Code of Conduct.