Absence and attendance
Your child’s time at school is very valuable – they only get one chance! It’s therefore very important that they are in school, on time, every day please.
We do realise that absences due to illness or medical matters can be unavoidable and school is not the place for a child to be if they are unwell. If you are unsure, please send them in and we will be in touch if we feel they are too unwell to be in school.
If your child is going to be absent, please phone the school as soon as possible on the first day of absence to inform us and let us know the reason why. Should you not to this, and your child does not turn up at school, our attendance officer will be in touch.
Here at Hareside we aim for the highest attendance possible as we appreciate the impact this has on our children's performance and ultimately life chances.
From September 2013, the Headteacher no longer has the authority to authorise absences for the purpose of taking a family holiday except in exceptional circumstances. We respectfully ask parents and carers to avoid booking holidays during term time. If, however, you believe there are exceptional reasons why your child needs to be absent from school you need to make your request in writing (click here for the form) stating the dates, where possible providing evidence and explaining the exceptional reasons for the absence. Should your child's absence not be authorised through our absence procedure prior to it happening then we may refer it to the Educational Welfare Officer and it may result in a fine.
Where a child’s level or pattern of absences becomes a concern we will discuss this with the parent or carer and will involve the services of our Educational Welfare Officer to help improve the situation.
Please click on this link to see a full copy of our absence and attendance policy