St Ann’s Heath Junior School aims to provide a safe, caring, well-ordered environment, which allows the best possible teaching and learning to take place for our pupils. We are committed to the continuous raising of achievement of all our pupils.

The school is committed to giving the highest priority to attendance and punctuality as well as meeting its obligations with regards to school attendance by: 

• promoting good attendance and reducing absence, including persistent absence

• ensuring every pupil has access to full-time education to which they are entitled

• acting early to address patterns of absence

We will also support parents to perform their legal duty to ensure their children of compulsory school age attend regularly, and will promote and support punctuality in attending school.

Regular attendance is considered to be attending school on each day the school is open for students unless there is an authorised reason to be absent.

 

Reporting Absence: 

Parents/ carers must notify school on the first day of an unplanned absence, for example if their child is unable to attend due to ill health, by 9.20am or as soon as practically possible. This can either be by using the Studybugs app or by phoning the school office. Parents/ carers are required to contact the school for every day of their child’s absence giving full details of the reasons for absence. 

It can be difficult to know if a particular illness means your child needs to be absent from school. Click on the following link for more information around common illnesses. Should I keep my child off school?

Exceptional authorised leave:

Parents/ carers who wish to take their child out of school for any other reason during school time, are asked to make this request to the Co-Head Teachers by completing a form which can be found by clicking HERE.

Permission for absence during term time will only be granted in exceptional circumstances and authorisation cannot be given retrospectively.

Please note, family holidays are not deemed exceptional circumstances and therefore will not be authorised.

Each request for exceptional leave will be considered as a separate case.

If the Co-Head Teachers do not authorise the request and the leave is still taken, the absence will be classified as unauthorised.

The school reserves the right to ask for evidence of any illness prior to or after requested leave of absence.

This absence may not be authorised if appropriate evidence is not seen.

Penalty Notices:

1. If a parent/ carer has not incurred a penalty notice relating to this child/ children in a rolling 3-year period since 19th August 2024, then the penalty notice will be charged at a rate of £160 per parent/carer per child, if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice. Failure to pay the penalty notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings against the parent/ carer in the Magistrates Court.

2.  If a parent/ carer has incurred a penalty notice rating to this child/ children since 19th August 2024, the rolling 3-year period will be activated from the date of the first penalty notice and the second penalty notice will be charged at the flat rate of £160 per parent/ carer per child, if paid within 28 days. There will be no reduction for payment within 21 days. Failure to pay the penalty notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings in the Magistrates Court.

3. If a parent/ carer has incurred 2 penalty notices relating to this child/ children in the rolling 3-year period since the first penalty notice was issued, then the parent/ carer will NOT receive a third penalty notice. Surrey County Council will have no option but to consider a prosecution, per parent/ carer per child into Magistrates Court under S444 Education Act 1996.