At Oakham Primary School we strive to give our children the best education and opportunities to help them realise their true potential. To help us achieve this we believe good attendance and punctuality are vital to the progress of their education.

Staff will work with children and their families to ensure they feel valued, safe and secure by creating a caring environment and making everyone feel welcome.

Any absence affects the pattern of a child’s education and regular absence will affect their learning. Absence disrupts teaching routines which may affect the learning of others in the same class.

Ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school is your legal responsibility and permitting absence from school without a good reason may result in prosecution.

Children who attend school regularly create friendships and learn to develop skills they need to prepare them for future life. Helping to create a pattern of regular attendance is the responsibility of everyone – parents, pupils and all members of school staff.

Attendance is a national priority and after the disruption to learning due to Covid every day counts towards positive outcomes for children now and in the future.

The graph below highlights the impact of missed days in school

Is my child too ill for school?

Please feel free to use this gov.uk link to access the latest and revised advice   

for families to help decide on whether to send you child to school during mild

illnesses.  

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/ 

Requests for Leave of Absence in Term-Time

From 1st September 2013 The Education Regulations (2006) prevent Head Teachers from granting any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.  Exceptional circumstances do not include family holidays, visiting relatives or friends, birthdays etc.

If you choose to take your child out of school during term time without leave of absence being granted then it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence on the school register and you may be prosecuted.

If you consider that a request for leave of absence during term time is for ‘exceptional circumstances’ then a written request should be made, to the Head Teacher, using a 'Leave of Absence' form that can be obtained from the School Office. 

Working in Partnership with Sandwell's Attendance & Support Team

The Oakham Attendance team liaise with Sandwell's Attendance and Support Service to ensure that all children receive the education they are entitled to. 

Sandwell Local Authority are responsible, by law, for making sure that registered pupils of compulsory school age attend their school regularly.

The Attendance & Support Team's main function is to:

• Encourage and, where necessary, enforce school attendance;
• Safeguard and promote the welfare of children in order that they may reach their full potential.

Please CLICK HERE to access the Sandwell Attendance and Support Service webpages for further information.