Attendance

For full details please find our full attendance policy here.

For your child to take full advantage of the educational opportunities offered it is vital your child is at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.

The school day begins at 8.40am and all pupils are expected to be in school at that time. Morning registration is at 8.45am and it closes at 9.15am. A pupil is marked as late if they are not in the classroom when the registers are taken. Arrival after the close of registration will be marked as unauthorised absence in line with county and Department for Education (DfE) guidance.

Medical Appointments

When possible please arrange these out of school hours, at weekends or during school holidays. If this isn’t possible please contact the school office as early as possible to inform us of the date, time and reason for the appointment. We will inform the class teacher of your child’s absence.

Illness

If your child is ill please notify the school office in the morning to inform us that they will be absent from school and provide details of the illness. A child not attending school is considered a safeguarding matter. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required. This is required on each day of illness until your child returns to school. Please email adminoffice@anton-inf.hants.sch.uk or you can leave a voicemail on the absence line.

Religious Festivals

Please contact us in advance via the school office for an absence request form to take time off for religious reasons.

Absence Requests

A leave of absence during term time will not be granted except in exceptional circumstances. Requests for leave must be made in writing in advance to the Headteacher via an absence request form. Please contact the school office for a copy of the form. Absences not requested in advance cannot be authorised.

If your request is for an extended absence or you would like to discuss your circumstances privately you can contact the school office to make an appointment with the Headteacher. Please do this as far in advance of the leave as possible.

Lateness/punctuality

It is important to be on time at the start of the school day. The start of school is used to give out instructions or organise work. If your child is late they can miss work, time with their class teacher getting vital information, cause disruption to the lesson for others, and can be embarrassing leading to possible further absence. On-going and repeated lateness is considered as unauthorised absence and procedures for repeated unauthorised absence will be followed.

Continued or Ongoing Absence

Absence for whatever reason disadvantages a child by creating gaps in his or her learning. Research shows these gaps affect attainment when attendance falls below 95%. As such we monitor all absences thoroughly, half-termly, and all attendance data is shared with the Local Authority and the Department for Education as required. If your child has had absences and their attendance level is falling towards 90% we will contact you and follow the procedure detailed in our Attendance Policy.

Penalty Notices

All Schools in England must issue a Penalty Notice when the threshold has been reached. If your child is persistently late or absent from school or has taken an unauthorised holiday and has 10 sessions (equivalent to 5 school days, 1 session for morning, 1 for afternoon) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period a Penalty Notice will be issued. These sessions do not have to be consecutive and can be any combination of unauthorised absence type. The 10 school week period can be across terms or school years.

First Offence

For a first offence the penalty will be £160 per parent per child if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 per parent per child if paid within 21 days.

Second Offence

For a second offence the penalty will be £160 per parent per child if paid within 28 days. There is no reduced fine for early payment.

Third Offence

A Penalty Notice will not be issued and the case will be taken forward for prosecution to the Magistrate’s Court. Prosecution can result in criminal records and a fine of up to £2500 per parent per child. Cases found guilty on the Magistrate’s Court can show on the parents future DBS certificate due to ‘failure to safeguard a child’s education’.

Please see documents below for full details from Hampshire County Council on attendance and Penalty Notices.

Penalty Notices for non attendance guidance for parents and carers August 2024.pdf

Please click on the link to find out more information about holiday requests and term time absence.

https://www.hants.gov.uk/educationandlearning/behaviour-attendance-parents