Attendance

Sickness/Absence

If your child is absent due to sickness, the school must be notified by telephone or in writing by 9.30am on the first morning of absence. If your child is absent from school and notification has not been received, then, for child protection/health and safety reasons, the school will contact the parent/carer to ascertain the reason for absence. The administrative staff will normally make this telephone call. If no reason is provided or obtained the child’s register will be marked as unauthorised.

To report an absence please telephone 01924 278290 or email admin@middlestown.accordmat.org.

Attendance Action Alliance

Members of the Attendance Action Alliance have worked with the Department for Education to develop a short school attendance guide, which helps parents understand how they can work with their school and local authority to support their children to attend school and get the right support. It can also be found on both the Office of the Children’s Commissioner page for parents and page for schools.

Holidays in Term Time

In line with government guidance and legislation, Middlestown Primary Academy will no longer authorise the taking of term-time holidays by pupils. Government research shows that absence from school is closely linked to attainment. Any absence can be detrimental to a child’s education and should be avoided.

Middlestown Primary Academy will not grant requests for term-time holidays unless exceptional circumstances are given and are approved by the Headteacher. Exceptional circumstances will be considered in line with Government guidance.

Where a family is refused authorisation for a leave of absence such as a holiday request but continues to take their child out of school, or where a parent makes no request of the school prior to a leave of absence, this may result in a Penalty Notice being issued to the parents/carers. The child’s register will be marked as unauthorised absence.

Please note that as of 19 August 2024, a First Offence Penalty Notice is a fine of £160 per parent, per child, reducing to £80 if paid within 21 days. Thereafter if the Penalty remains unpaid this may result in legal action.

Further details can be found in the Accord Attendance Policy and Wakefield Council Penalty Notice Fines Leaflet below.