ABSENCE
Illness
If your child is going to be absent from school due to illness, then please inform the office before 9am in the morning and let us know why your child is going to be absent, and when you expect them to return. If your child is off for more than one day, we must still be informed each day of your child's absence until they return to school.
Please call 01326 280539 or email hello@stkeverne.org.uk to let us know.
Medication
Prescription medicines will not be administered unless they have been prescribed for a child by a doctor or dentist and the school has written permission from the parent or carer. The school will only accept prescribed medicines if these are in-date, labelled, provided in original container as dispensed by a pharmacist and includes instructions for administration, dosage and storage.
Medicine in school will only be administered by trained staff who have completed Medication Awareness (Education) training.
Non-prescription medicines will not be administered. Any request will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Any decision to administer non-prescribed medication must be supported with a completed parental non-prescription medication form signed by the parent/carer and Head of School.
Under no circumstances will any child be given prescription or non-prescription medicine without their parent/carer’s written consent.
Medical appointments
If you need to take your child out of school for any length of time to attend a medical appointment, then the school office must be notified in advance. We also ask to see the letter confirming the date and time of the medical appointment. Please ensure that, where possible, medical appointments are made outside of school time.
Emergency inhaler consent form
Parental Agreement for school to administer medicine form
Parental Agreement for school to administer non-prescription medicine form
Holidays
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, we do not authorise holiday during term time - please see the holiday letter below.
Parents/carers must complete the exceptional circumstances form below with as much detail as possible as to why they are unable to take time in school holidays and get their employer to sign it confirming that this is the case.
The Head of School will decide whether or not circumstances are deemed to be exceptional, and all requests will receive a response stating the outcome of the request.
Whole School Warning Letter regarding Unauthorised Leave of Absence.pdf
Leave of Absence (Holiday) Exceptional Circumstances request form.pdf
ATTENDANCE
Since September 2015, a new challenge has faced every school with the reduction of the threshold for persistent absenteeism now set at 10%, reducing from 15% in previous years. This amounts to 19 school days in a year. This is a very tight target and is linked to holidays in term time and indiscriminate days off.
Additionally, the guidance for issuing penalty notices for unauthorised absence has been revised. It now states that:
Penalty Notices can only be issued in cases where a pupil of compulsory school age has been absent from school and the absence has not been authorisedOrWhere a pupil arrives persistently late
The minimum level of absence necessary is 10 or more school sessions (5 days) in any 100 day period.
Prosecution under the Education Act should be considered as an alternative where 20 or more sessions of unauthorised absence occur.
It is therefore essential that all requests for ‘leave of absence’ are made well in advance to enable time to check reasons, evidence and previous attendance information. Do not assume that authorisation will be given. School term dates are published well in advance to enable parents to make plans for holidays out of school time. These can be found either on the school website homepage under the 'Links & Downloads' column or Cornwall Council website.
This guidance is intended to be used in tackling parentally condoned absence where it is reasonable to expect that a parent can ensure the child’s regular attendance but are not willing to take responsibility for doing so.
Please help us and your child by ensuring that their attendance remains above 95%.
