Attendance

At Grimes Dyke we are working very hard to improve our standards of attendance across the whole school. Our attendance target is 96% and we are continuing to introduce exciting approaches to encourage excellent attendance.There will be a number of additional incentives for children to attend running throughout the year. Excellent attendance in school is vital in ensuring children are able to achieve their full potential.

School opens at 8:40am, registration is at 8:45am and classes finish at 3:15pm with the exception of Nursery and Reception who finish at 3:05pm. In March 2022, the Government introduced a non-statutory expectation of a 32.5 hour
minimum core school week by September 2023.

Parents are expected to ensure their child attends school every day of the school year unless too unwell for school.  The expectation is that children will have 100% attendance. If the attendance falls below 90% then the school may refer the family to attendance processes.
Unauthorised absence or your child being frequently late could result in fine or prosecution! 

Pupils are expected to attend school every day of the school year which tends to be 190 days out of 365 – split into 3 terms and 6 half terms per year. Days in each school may be different as teachers have training days during term time.

The school may decide to ask the LA to prosecute parents for:

• unauthorised absence where their children on holiday in term time
• where parents/carers do not ensure that their children attend every day
• where the attendance falls below 90%
• where there is long term non attendance

The LA will follow legal processes where there is evidence of non-attendance. 

What are my responsibilities for my child’s attendance?

As a parent, you are legally responsible for making sure your child gets a suitable fulltime
education, usually from the age of 5 to 16.
For most parents, this will mean making sure your child is in school every day except
when:
- Your child is too ill to go to school.
- You have permission for a leave of absence from your child’s school for them not
to attend. You should only ask for this in exceptional circumstances. Generally, a
holiday would not be classed as an exceptional circumstance.
- Your religious body has a day especially for religious observance.
There are also some other circumstances. For example, where:
- Your local council is responsible for arranging your child’s transport to school and
it is not available on that day or has not been provided yet.
- Your child attends an independent school that is beyond walking distance from
home and your local council has not arranged for your child to board at or near the
school or attend another school closer to home.
- Your child does not have a permanent address and you are required to travel for
work. (This exception only applies if your child attends their usual school or
another school where you are staying as often as possible. This must be 200 half
days or more a year if they are aged 6 or older.)
Whilst some absence is unavoidable, it is important that your child is in school every day
they can be for their learning, wellbeing and development. 

1 The meaning of ‘parent’ in relation to a child includes any person who is not a
parent but who has parental responsibility for the child or who has care of the child,
as set out in section 576 of the Education Act 1996.

A parents guide to attendance 

Is my child too ill for school

Working together to improve school attendance

Below is a chart which details the impact absence has across different time frames. At Grimes Dyke we are aiming for all children to achieve 96% and above. 

Absence