Attendance

"One of the most important things you can do for your child is to make sure they attend school regularly."

The law states that all children must receive a full time education between the ages of 5 and 16. 

At Marlcliffe Primary School

All children need to be at school promptly for morning registration at 8.50am

The school opens at 8.40am for children to come in, organise their coats and lunch and complete a morning task set by their teacher each day. 

Registers are also taken at the start of the afternoon session

School finishes at 3.15pm.

Getting to School on time matters...

• Children arriving to school after 8:50am are recorded as being late (L)

• Children arriving to school after 9.20am will be recorded as being unauthorised late (U) This is the same as an unauthorised absence mark. 

Any children arriving late must report to the school office.

OUR SCHOOL ATTENDANCE TARGET THIS YEAR IS 96%

Number of minutes late every school day and days missed each year as a result:

5 mins every day = 3.5 days

10 mins every day = 7.2 days

20 mins every day = 14.4 days

If your child needs to be absent from school:

• Only keep your child away from school if it is really necessary- we will contact you if they are unwell and need to go home.

• On the first day of absence, you are required to telephone the school office.

• Keep school informed each day if more than one day’s absence is necessary.

• Speak to us if your child will be off for a prolonged period of time so we can offer support.

Medical Appointments...

Where possible please avoid medical appointments in school time. If this is unavoidable please remember that:

We require advance notice of any appointments during school time. An appointment card/letter from the hospital, doctors or dentist may need to be shown to the Office Staff before permission is given to authorise an absence for a medical appointment.

Children are not allowed to leave school during the school day unless clear information is given by the parent/carer regarding who is collecting the child and when. The person collecting the child will be asked to sign them in and out from school.

If your child is too ill to return to school following the appointment, please telephone us.

Taking your child out of school, during term time

The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 Amendments have been made to the 2006 Regulations and make clear that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Parents should complete a form and submit to the school at least 20 days in advance. Headteachers have the discretion to grant leave, but they should only do so in exceptional circumstances. If a headteacher grants a leave request, it will be for them to determine the length of time that the child can be away from school. This leave is unlikely, however, to be granted for the purposes of holiday, recreation or leisure.

Parents can be fined for taking their child on holiday during term time without consent from the school.

To find out more about your responsibility as a parent/carer, click the link to Sheffield City Council's Attendance Policy and further information about attendance matters. 

If your child is ill, please see this useful guidance from the NHS if you are unsure if your child is too ill for school.

Is my child too ill for school?

The Local Authority in conjunction with the NHS has also produced this information to support with knowing whether your child can return to school.