Attendance & Absence Reporting
Please telephone/email or contact the school office via MyEd as soon as you know your child will be absent stating the reason for non attendance - please do not leave a message saying they are unwell, please be specific, eg stomach bug, heavy cold.
The morning register will be taken at 8.30am and will close at 8.40am. If your child arrives between 8.30am and 8.40am they will be coded as late (L) if they arrive after 8.40am they will be coded as arriving after the register has closed (U) which is an unauthorised absence. If you arrive at school after 8.30am you will need to enter school via main reception.
Office staff check all class registers between 8.40 am and 8.50 am on a daily basis, to identify those pupils who are absent. Where a child is absent from school and we have not received any verbal or written communication from the parent, we initiate the first day contact procedures. If no message is left with the school office we will telephone in turn each of the contacts on the list provided by the parents, if we are still unable to get confirmation as to why the child is not at school we will processed to a welfare check (this is a visit to the home address), this is carried out by the senior staff at Musbury Primary School or the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO), if we are still unable to confirm the child's welfare we will call 101 to report the child as missing. This is the school’s duty of care and safeguarding for your child.
Holiday Requests During Term Time:
DFE Absence Guidance Resources for parents/carers
Schools are only allowed, by law, to authorise non-medical absences if requested in advance by a parent with whom the child normally resides. A school can only authorise such a request if they are satisfied that there are "Exceptional Circumstances" which apply. However, even if there are exceptional circumstances, schools can still consider any other relevant factors such as previous attendance rates, the ability of the pupil to catch-up on missed work and the wider impact of missing the specified period of time.
Devon County Council advise schools not to authorise such requests if the pupil's education is likely to be significantly impacted upon.
Please be aware:
If the request is unauthorised by the school, a penalty notice may be issued by Devon County Council. A penalty notice offers a parent the opportunity of dealing with a potential offence without going to court, by paying a penalty. If parents can't afford to pay, or for any other reason do not take the offer of paying the notice within a set time, then the case will proceed to a magistrates court. The provision of penalty notices is set Regulations and the amount of the penalty, timeframe for payment or payment method are not able to be varied by Devon County Council.
Parents should note that only one notice per parent per child will normally be issued with a two year period. Any second 'offence' within a two year period will be referred straight to court.
Absence due to Sickness:
All sickness should be reported to the School Office, NOT THE CLASS TEACHER OR VIA A SIBLING. Unless you know the length of sickness (eg 48 hours after last bout of sickness) please contact the school either in person, via the app or by telephone on each day of sickness, if we do not receive a communication from you the School Office will contact you.
Please try and make medical appointments out of school hours, children having to leave class half way through a lesson not only disturbs their learning but also affects other children in the class. If you have to make a medical appointment during school hours please provide evidence to the School Office.
If your child exceeds:
12 sessions of sickness you will receive a letter titled Medical Letter 1.
20 sessions of sickness you will receive a letter titled Medical Letter 2.
After 20 sessions all sickness will be unauthorised if they are not evidenced.
Should your child reach 10 sessions of unauthorised absence we will arrange a meeting with yourselves and The Education Welfare Officer which may then proceed to a legal meeting.
NB: A day is 2 sessions (AM & PM)
Link to First Federation Trust Absence Policy:
Pupil Attendance | First Federation