Registration will take place by the early years practitioner/ class teacher and is recorded using an electronic system called SEEMiS. The school office will make arrangements to contact any parents/guardians of pupils who are absent.
It is Highland Council policy that where a child is absent or late (and the school has not been given prior notice), the school will make concerted efforts to contact parents/guardians to find out why. Therefore, it is vital that all parents/guardians should contact the school by 9.15am. Failure to contact the school will result in an unauthorised absence. All unauthorised absences are actively pursued by the school.
Three Day Rule for Unexplained Absence of Pupils
Day 1; First day of unexplained absence of a pupil
The school will endeavour to make contact by telephone or email to parents, carers or emergency contacts informing them that the child is absent and requesting a reason for the absence. If no contact can be made with the parents/carers or emergency contacts on the first day of absence this will be noted by the school. If the family is known to other agencies, because of possible concerns about his/her wellbeing, then contact will be made with these agencies.
Day 2; Second day of unexplained absence of a pupil
The school will make vigorous attempts to contact a carer or family member by telephone, or e-mail. If no contact can be made on the second day of absence, this will be noted by the school.
Day 3; Third day of unexplained absence of pupil
If no contact is established, a member of staff will arrange a home visit to check the situation. If the child is not found and no satisfactory explanation is given for absence, the police will be notified of the child’s non-attendance. The police will treat this as a missing persons alert. The police may be involved to conduct visits where it is not possible for the school to do so.
Steps for Parents
- Keep the school up to date with your telephone number, including mobile phones if you have one, and other details for emergency contacts.
- Inform the school of any pre-arranged absence e.g. attendance at hospital appointment prior to the absence taking place
- Inform the school or pre-school of your child’s absence by 9.15am daily
- Respond promptly to contacts from the school
Holidays During Term Time
When parents are considering whether or not to remove their children from school for a family holiday, they should be aware that such a decision:
- will result in a significant loss in classroom experience;
- will result in a pressure to ‘catch up’ on missed work by pupils;
- could result in pupils missing assessments with consequential impact on pupils and teachers;
- could result in the loss of curricular activities;
- will affect school attendance records and efforts to raise standards of attendance;
- under the guidance issued at a national level, most family holidays will be coded as unauthorised absence, only in exceptional cases will the absence be recorded as authorised.
In conclusion, we would ask parents to be aware of these considerations when making decisions on planning holidays during term time. We have enclosed a link to the school term dates on the Highland Council website to aid parents in planning any holidays they may be considering.
CLICK HERE – Highland Council Term Dates
If parents decide to make holiday arrangements during school term, this should be confirmed in writing to the Head Teacher.
Cawdor Primary School 