Regular school attendance is crucial for your child’s academic achievement, overall well-being, and broader development. When children attend school consistently, they have the opportunity to engage with their peers, teachers, and educational resources. Good attendance patterns correlate with higher academic achievement and a more positive school experience. Moreover, attending school regularly helps instil responsible behaviour patterns that extend beyond the classroom.
Our Attendance Lead is Mrs O’Doherty.
At Sacred Heart RC, our aim is to prepare pupils for their future lives and careers. With this in mind, we require parents to observe the school holidays as prescribed.
The headteacher is unable to authorise holidays during term-time.
The headteacher is only allowed to grant a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. Applications will be made in advance and the headteacher will be satisfied by the evidence which is presented, before authorising term-time leave.
The headteacher will determine the amount of time a pupil can be away from school during term time. Any leave of absence is at the discretion of the Headteacher.
Any requests for leave during term-time will be considered on an individual basis and the pupil’s previous attendance record will be taken into account.
Requests for leave will not be granted in the following circumstances:
- Immediately before and during assessment periods
- When a pupil’s attendance record shows any unauthorised absence
- Where a pupil’s authorised absence record is already above 10 percent for any reason
If parents take their child out of school during term-time without authorisation from the headteacher, they may be subject to sanctions such as penalty fines.
Rochdale Council Penalty Information:
f you take your child, or children, out of school without authorisation for 5 or more days, in a 10 week school period, we will issue you with a school attendance penalty notice.
The amount you’ll be fined depends on how many times you take your child, or children, out of school without authorisation.
- The first time: you will need to pay £80 per parent, per child. If you don’t pay within 28 days the amount will be increased to £160 per parent, per child.
- The second time within 3 years: you will need to pay £160 per parent, per child within 28 days. There is no reduction in payment.
- The third time within 3 years: the case will be presented directly to the magistrates’ court and a fine of up to £2,500 can be issued.
If you don’t pay your penalty notice on time, we may refer the case to the magistrates’ court.
Pay Rochdale Borough Council – School attendance penalty notice
Parents are required to contact the school as soon as possible on the first day of their child’s absence.
Parents are required to send a note in on the first day that their child returns to school with a signed explanation of why they were absent; this is required even if the parent has already contacted the school via phone call.
Alternatively, parents may call into school and report to the school office where arrangements will be made to speak to a member of staff.
A phone call will be made to the parent of any child who has not reported their child’s absence on the first day that they do not attend school.
In the case of persistent absence, arrangements will be made for parents to speak to the Headteacher.
The school will inform the LA, on a termly basis, of the details of pupils who fail to attend regularly, or who have missed 10 school days or more without permission.
If a pupil’s attendance drops below 85 percent, the Education Welfare Officer will be informed, and a formal meeting will be arranged with the parents.
Where a pupil has not returned to school for 10 days after an authorised absence, or is absent from school without authorisation for 20 consecutive school days, the school will remove the pupil from the admissions register if the school and the LA have failed to establish the whereabouts of the child after making reasonable enquiries.
We value and recognise the importance of good attendance and have systems and processes in place to make sure attendance in managed effectively for all children. We regularly analyse attendance data to identify pupils who have consistently high attendance, those who have shown improvements in their attendance and to identify pupils who may be vulnerable. We will provide support for those who may have lower rates of attendance and again I ask that you work with school if you have any issues with your child being able to attend school regularly. We are always here to support.
