The Holy Trinity Church of England Secondary School

Leave of Absence

By Downloading the Leave of Absence Form you agree to be bound by the Terms and Conditions laid out in the letter below.

You can download the Leave of Absence Form: HERE (PDF)

You can view the West Sussex County Council Penalty Notice Leaflet HERE (PDF)

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

The purpose of this letter is to remind you of our procedures with regards to attendance. 

I would like to thank you for supporting us in ensuring that your child’s attendance is the very best that it can be. As I am sure you will appreciate, academic progress is directly linked to attendance and poor attendance has an immediate impact on a student’s chances of success in the future. Analysis of results last summer supports this.

It is, therefore, extremely important that you notify the school of any pre-arranged absence, be it for a full day or part of a day, so I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of our procedures should your child need to be absent from school.

If your child is absent you MUST:

Report an Absence
To report your child absent from school please use the Studybugs app. Parents and Carers have been asked to use this app to register child absences from school, registration is free, the app can be downloaded here: Studybugs
Please ensure you:

  • Notify the school of your child's absence using the Studybugs App no later than 8am on the day your child is unwell
  • If you do not have internet access, please call the school main number on 01293 423690 and follow the automated instructions provided
  • If your child is absent and we have not been notified, this absence will remain unauthorised until you notify us of the reason.

Returning to school after an absence

  • If your child is ill for a period of 5 days, we would normally expect them to have seen a doctor. For illnesses of this length we will ask to see supporting medical documentation, which can be in the form of a certificate, a photocopy of any prescription, a note from
  • your GP, a signed appointment card or a screen shot of your call to the surgery confirming that your child has been to see them, together with the reason and length of absence.

Medical appointments

  • If your child has a medical appointment of any kind (i.e. doctor, dentist, hospital, or optician) please bring in the appointment card or letter to confirm this, preferably in advance, or telephone the designated Absence Line.
  • For morning or afternoon appointments, we would normally expect the child to be in school for the other half of the day.
  • If you need to take your child out of school to accompany you to an appointment, this will be an unauthorised absence.

Late Marks

  • Registration takes place at 8.45am and if a child arrives after this time they will be marked as late. If your child misses either a morning or an afternoon registration they should visit Reception and then sign in using the inVentry screen. If punctuality does not improve this may result in further sanctions. Where a medical appointment is the cause of lateness, evidence of this must be seen and sanctions will not be applied.

Request for Absence in Term time and Unexplained Absence from School

There are only 190 contact days in the school year, which means that there are 175 non-school days left for holidays, treats and shopping. This letter provides you with the information required to make an informed decision and to ensure that you are aware of the legal position should you take your child/children out of school during term time.

May I also take this opportunity to remind you that, in line with the Crawley School’s Attendance Policy, requests for absence in term time will not be authorised. I would like to draw your attention to the school’s Attendance Policy, which refers to the potential use of Fixed Penalty Notices for the following:

 A referral for a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) may be made to the Local Authority for the following reasons: -

  • When a student has a minimum of 10 school sessions recorded as unauthorised.  (A School day is two sessions AM and PM.)               
  • Any absence marked in the register as unauthorised i.e. if you fail to provide evidence of an absence or your child has truanted, will be recorded as unauthorised absence (Code 0)
  • If your child is ill for a period of 5 days or more, we would expect them to have seen a doctor. For illnesses of this duration we will ask to see supporting medical documentation, which can be in the form of a medical certificate/note from your GP, a photocopy/scan of any prescription, a signed appointment card or a screen shot of your call to the surgery
  • Persistent late arrival at school after the register has been taken is recorded as an unauthorised absence (Code U)
  • A holiday or period of absence in term time of 5 or more days, which has not been authorised by the Head Teacher (Code G). The Government has directed that Head Teachers may now only grant leave for a holiday in exceptional circumstances
  • If you notify the school that your child is ill prior to or after a period of either authorised or unauthorised absence, you will need to provide medical documentation or the absence will be unauthorised and if the total number of days is 5 or more than a referral may be made for a Fixed Penalty Notice
  • If you withdraw your child/children from school during term time, without authorisation being requested in advance, in line with the school’s policy
  • FPNs can also be used during the first 5 days of exclusion. Parents are made aware of the consequences by letter when a child is excluded from school

Fixed Penalty Notices (Please see WSCC Penalty Notice leaflet) - Applies to Years 7 to 11 only

A Fixed Penalty Notice, if paid within 21 days, is £60 per parent per child. After which it goes up to £120 per parent per child, to be paid within 7 days. Should the Fixed Penalty Notices remain unpaid at the end of this period of time, the County Council is required to commence prosecution in the Magistrates Court for the original offence of failing to ensure regular and punctual school attendance of your child/children. This is a criminal offence under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 and carries a maximum fine of £1,000 per parent per child and/or a parenting order or Community Service order.

We will continue to reward not just good individual and class attendance in school, but also much improved attendance from students.  We know that we all need to work together to improve attendance and the achievement of all our children and I thank you in advance for your co-operation.

Should you wish to discuss any points mentioned in this letter, please contact attendance@holytrinitycrawley.org.uk (01293 652971) and we will direct your query to the correct member of staff.

Yours sincerely,

Mr A Cook,

Deputy Headteacher.