Attendance

Attending school regularly is important for individual children and for all in the class. In addition to making academic progress, being present each day enables children to spend time with their friends, keep up to date with what the class is doing and feel the sense of belonging by to the school community.

Within STEP, we strive for each pupil to achieve 100% attendance each term, and we enjoy celebrating with them when this milestone is reached on a weekly or termly basis:

Reporting Pupil Absence

There may be occasions when it is not possible for your child to attend school. If this should be the case, as the parent or carer of the child, please call the Academy office by 9:00am on the first day of absence. A reason for the absence will be required. Alternatively, parents can leave a voicemail and we will follow up as required.

Please note, it is not possible to inform the Academy of an absence by text message or email. Also, any absence which is not accounted for will be categorised as being unauthorised and as such, a member of staff will phone home on the morning of the first day of any absence if we have not been contacted by 9.00am.

If the absence extends beyond one day, the parent or carer must contact the Academy daily to update on the medical condition and the anticipated length of time of any continued absence. On the child’s return to school, a note explaining the reason for the absence and/or medical evidence must be provided. Please see guidance on whether your child is too ill to be at school here.

As part of our duty to safeguard pupils in our care, absence rates are carefully monitored. In addition, the Academy Leadership Team and appointed Education Welfare Officers will work with parents to ensure each child attends school for the maximum amount of time. 

Punctuality

We want to support our families to be on time every day, so that no learning time is missed! The school start times are as follows:

Nursery: 8:30am

Reception: 8:45am

Years 1-6: 8:55am (doors open from 8:45am)

Absence from School in Term Time

Children should not be taken out of school during term time. Current legislative guidelines issued by the Department for Education states that “Headteachers should not grant leave of absence unless in exceptional circumstances”. Please ensure that you help us observe this directive by not taking your child out for holidays during term time, as we will not be in a position to authorise these.

Taking children out of school during term time could have a detrimental effect on the child’s progress. There is no entitlement to parents to take their child out of school during term time, however, you may apply to the school for leave of absence if you believe there are exceptional circumstances. Please read our attendance policy for more information on attendance.