Attendance and Punctuality

Children are required to attend school for 190 days each year. If your child is ill, please inform the school by telephone or email each day of absence by 8:30 am, explaining the reason for the absence. Messages may be left on the attendance voicemail if you are unable to reach a member of the office team.

We regularly monitor our pupils' attendance and believe that a high level of attendance is vital for children to make good progress at school.

Good attendance establishes good routines for later life and the working world, as well as giving children the opportunity to:

Make lots of friends and feel included
Increase their confidence and self-esteem
Improve their social skills
Achieve their potential and fulfil their aspirations.
Research suggests that just 16 days of absence over an academic year (92% attendance) can result in an approximate 30% drop in attainment.

Should you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to book an appointment with Miss McDonagh.

Term Time Holiday

We cannot authorise any holiday-related absence during term time. Family holidays should coincide with school holidays.

Exceptional Leave

Requests for exceptional leave should be sent to the school office using the form below.

Leave of Absence form

Punctuality

Children must attend school on time each day so they do not miss valuable learning time. Being 15 minutes late each day is equivalent to missing two weeks of school over an academic year. Being late can also be stressful for children and disrupt the learning of the rest of the class.

The school day starts at 8:50 a.m. The school gates open at 8:30 a.m., and the classroom doors open at 8:40 a.m.

Children arriving at school after 8:50 am should enter via the school office to be marked in the register.

As mentioned, if you would like to discuss any matters regarding punctuality, please speak to Miss McDonagh.

Emotionally based school avoidance

This guidance has been developed by Hertfordshire Integrated Services for learning, with input from the attendance team, ESMA, the advisory teacher service, and DSPL8. Although this guidance has not been specifically written for parents/carers of children with special educational needs, this does contain some practical strategies to support your child at home, as well as signposting to external services and information on the best way to communicate with the school and the importance of this in the support of your child's positive reintegration.

Should you require further information about this and how schools support pupils and their families with emotionally based school avoidance, please contact senco@maplegrove.herts.sch.uk, admin@maplegrove.herts.sch.uk, or phone 01442214966 and ask to speak to Mrs Purdy, our Pastoral and SEMH Lead.

Illness

If you know your child will miss school due to illness, medical appointments, etc., you should telephone the school daily during your child’s absence. The office operates a ‘First Day Response’ system, which entails calling any parent we have not received a message from after 9:15 a.m. However, we would appreciate a call, as this saves the office valuable time in the morning.

Is my child too ill for school - NHS