The attendance at Kingswood is very good and children enjoy coming to school. We ask that parents make sure their children come to school every day, on time and in the correct uniform. We monitor the attendance of all pupils and if a child's attendance falls below 90%, the school will support the family to get the child back into lessons as quickly as possible.
When a child is absent from school an email to info@kingswood.surrey.sch.uk or telephone call on the first day of absence (as early as possible) is essential. If no telephone call is made by 9.30am the school secretary will telephone the family to ascertain the reason for absence. For every subsequent day that your child is absent, please email or ring the school to confirm that he/she will not be attending.
We ask that parents keep children at home who have suffered from sickness or diarrhoea for 48hrs.
Absences without adequate explanation must be regarded as unauthorised. A record of absences is included in the children’s end of year report.
We ask that medical appointments are made out of school hours; if this can't be arranged and you need to take your child out of school for a dental check-up or a medical appointment, please inform the school well in advance. If a child is taken out of school during the day, parents must sign the 'Attendance Book' which is situated in the main office.
We believe that children taking days out during school time disrupts their education. Holidays will not be authorised during term time and penalty fines may be issued to parents by the Inclusion Officer. This could mean that if unauthorised holiday is taken during term time of 5 days or more both parents may be liable to a fixed penalty notices of £80 per child, this will increase to £160 per child if not paid within 28 days. Please see detail in our Attendance Policy.
Only in exceptional circumstances will leave of absence be authorised by the Head of School.
The school is open to children from 8.40 and the register is taken at 8.55am. There are a range of activities for children to work on in this period of time. If your child is going to be late for school for any reason, please inform the school office so that we are able to register it as an official absence. Children who are persistently late will have their learning seriously disrupted.
Children who arrive after 10.00am will be recorded as an 'unauthorised absence' in the register.
Persistent absence and lateness will be reported to the Educational Welfare Officer for possible subsequent action.
All Surrey schools have an allocated Inclusion Officer whose job it is to support schools and parents to ensure that every child attends school regularly. IOs can receive referrals and act upon enquiries from schools, parents, other agencies or members of the public when a child is not attending school.
Upon receipt of a referral the IO will discuss the situation with school first, and will then call a school meeting or make a home visit, to try and establish why the child/young person is not attending school. It is the IO's job to assist in the resolution of the problem by involving other agencies if necessary, and working with all parties to devise an action plan to support full-time attendance at school or any agreed alternative provision. The IO will remain involved until this is achieved.
It is in yours and your child's best interests to co-operate with the IO to resolve attendance problems so that your child is in receipt of the education s/he is entitled to.
If you do not co-operate with the school or the IO to address the attendance issue and establish regular school attendance, the Inclusion Officer Service acting for the Local Authority, has a statutory duty to consider legal proceedings.