Good attendance is essential for children to make progress. Attendance supports attainment and enables your child to be confident in their learning and secure in their friendship groups. It is not fair if you do not support your child to have good attendance. Our pupils tell us that they do not like it if they have missed learning in class and feel embarrassed if they arrive late to school.
We expect all our families to ensure their children attend school regularly and arrive on time.
We always follow up poor attendance and punctuality and we do not authorise holidays in term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.
The School Day
The school day starts at 8:50am and it is important that your child arrives on time, ready to start school. If you are struggling to get your child to school, please contact us on 01952 387927 so we can help.
All gates open at 8.45am and will be closed at 8.55am. The children can enter the school site through the school gates – by pre-school, reception, the oak tree and the underpass. Children will be marked late if they arrive after the gates are closed. Late children can enter school through the school office.
If your child is ill, you must notify the office of the reason for their absence by 8.50am or as soon as practically possible, by calling the school office on 01952 387927.
If you are delayed in collecting your child from school at 3:15pm, please call the school as soon as possible.
How you can help your child achieve good attendance
Establish a good routine in the mornings and evenings so that your child is prepared.
Ensure that your child arrives on time and is not late.
Arrange dental and medical appointments outside of the school day.
You must ring school before 9.00 am if your child is absent due to illness on every day that your child is absent from school.
Take family holidays outside of term time.
Talk to your child about school and take an interest in their school work and homework.
Praise and reward your child’s achievements at school, including good attendance.
Attend parents evening and school events.
Leave During Term Time
They could cost more than you think! The Department for Education has renewed appeals to parents not to take their children out of school during term time. The Governors and Head of School at Priorslee Academy support this and have decided that children will only be given permission to take leave in term time if there are exceptional circumstances.
To request leave of absence for pupils, you can download a Leave In Term Time form (LITT) from the ‘Helpful Forms’ page of the Parents section of the website. Helpful Forms – Priorslee Academy – Telford .The Leave in Term Time form can also be found on the ‘Parent and Carers forms’ notice board outside the office. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs G Lough (the school attendance officer) 01952 387927 admin.priorslee@taw.org.uk
Please check the Academy’s Term Dates.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOLLOWING CHANGES TO GOVERNMENT POLICY:
From August 19th 2024, the government introduced a new ‘National Framework for Penalty Notices’. For schools in the Telford & Wrekin local authority, the changes applied from 1st September 2024.
There are significant changes that all parents should be aware of:
- If your child has 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a 10 school week rolling period, you may be issued with a Penalty Notice. These 10 sessions may include any unauthorised absence, including leave in term time, and do not have to be consecutive.
- Penalty Notices increased to £160 in September 2024. (This can be reduced to £80 but only for the first Penalty Notice issued and if paid within 21 days). This reduction does not apply to any subsequent Penalty Notice.
- Any 2nd Penalty Notice, to the same parent for the same child, issued within three years of the date of the first Penalty Notice will be charged at a flat rate of £160
- A third Penalty Notice will not be issued within a three year rolling period, to the same parent for the unauthorised absence of the same child; alternative action or legal measures will be utilised for subsequent offences.
- If in an individual case, the local authority believes a Penalty Notice would be appropriate, they retain the discretion to issue one before the threshold is met. For example, when a parent purposefully tries to avoid a Penalty Notice by taking their child out of school when there is only four pupil days in school and the fifth day is for example a PD day or bank holiday attached to that week.
- In some circumstances a ‘Notice to Improve’ may be issued. However, a Notice to Improve will only be used in cases where support is appropriate. They will not be issued in cases of unauthorised leave in term time for holidays, where information for parents is included on school’s website or a simple warning by the school that a Penalty Notice could be issued if unauthorised leave in term time is taken will suffice.
- Parents should always apply to the executive headteacher for any request for leave in term time by completing a request form available from school. (DfE guidance states that schools should not authorise leave retrospectively, so any leave in term time taken without a request being submitted will be unauthorised absence).
- In developing and publishing the new national framework, the government has renewed appeals to parents not to take their children out of school during term time. The Governors and executive headteacher of this school support this, and students will only be given permission to take leave in term time if there are exceptional circumstances. The DfE guidance, ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ (Aug 2024) states : Generally, the DfE does not consider the need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance. (Paragraph 38.)
- Each application for leave in term time will be considered and, if it is agreed and authorised, the executive headteacher will determine the duration of any leave. However, if the application is not agreed and the absence occurs, the dates will be unauthorised. Parents will be notified of any decision in writing. This notification may be hand delivered directly to the parent or posted to the parents’ home address.
- As a school, we are asked to inform you that in line with Telford and Wrekin Council policy, if your child is absent for 10 school sessions within a 10 week rolling period and that absence is unauthorised, you may be subject to a Penalty Notice fine, criteria is as detailed above.
The sample letters below (click to open) are the official letters issued to schools following the 1st of September 2013 change in legislation.
To request a leave during term time parents are required to complete a
Parents will receive a refusal or (only in exceptional circumstances) a permission letter
There is more information on Telford and Wrekin’s website
