Attendance

Your child’s attendance at Freemantles is vitally important to their future, their education at Freemantles is aimed at supporting them to participate in the real world. When you child is well it is imperative that they are attending school.

As a school we have decided that we will not reward high attendance as we do not wish to incentivise pupils to attend when unwell.

If your child is unwell…

However, we also understand that due to their lack of understanding, our students often struggle to manage their own hygiene effectively when they have a cold or are unwell and as a result, they can spread their germs.

Our students also tend to like the routine of coming to school and can demonstrate to their parents that they want to attend school even when they are unwell, as they don’t understand that, when unwell they do not have to attend school.

If your child is unwell it is important that we are informed of this as soon as possible. Therefore, please phone school and update us. If we don’t hear from you and your child is not in school, we will call you, as we have a safeguarding responsibility for your child when they should be in school.

Addressing Attendance Concerns

The school has a nominated Inclusion Officer from Surrey County Council who monitors attendance of pupils when this drops below 90%. In this case parents may be invited to attend an Attendance Panel meeting. In more serious cases, the Inclusion Officer may issue a Penalty Notice fine or commence court proceedings.  

Where the child’s attendance issues are as the result of their own anxiety and the parents are working hard with the school to encourage the child to attend the school as frequently as possible, this will be recognised and acknowledged.

Parents’ Requests for Absence

Freemantles approach to parents requesting time to undertake normal family activities at times when things are less busy is usually sympathetic. We recognise that the activities parents are wanting to undertake are often very challenging for their children and will be an important learning experience for them. 

There are further details about our approach available in the Policy.

Attendance PolicyRequest for absence form