Attendance
At Downham Feoffees the Attendance Lead is:
Mrs Sherrington – Head of School
Our Meridian Trust Attendance leader is Sharon Templeman.
If you would like to speak to any of these people please contact the school office.
Downham Feoffees Primary Academy welcomes children into the playground at 8:45am when the school gates open. The gate then closes at 8:55am when the register is taken. Please do ensure that your child is at school on time as there are valuable learning opportunities set for before and during register time. If your child is late, please come to the front office where they will be signed in. Please remember that lateness is classed as an absence and will affect your child’s attendance. The school office will call if your child is absent without a reason.
A useful webpage to view regarding a child’s illness and whether to send them to school or not, please refer to the NHS website: Is my child too ill for school? – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
If your child is ill and will be absent from school, please contact the school office either by email office@downhamfeoffees.org or call on 01353 699325. If you phone before 8.30am, you will be able to leave a message which a member of the office staff will pick up. Alternatively, the office is open from 8.30am onwards and you will be able to speak to a member of office staff. We do ask that you phone on each day of your child’s absence so that we can keep our school registers updated.
Term time absence is strongly discouraged, we would always ask for you to speak to our attendance team when considering term time absence.
However, if you need to request it, please ensure you submit this request IN ADVANCE of your child being absent from school. We ask for 3 weeks’ notice for admin and discussion.
Decisions will be notified in writing. You may be asked to supply further information or attend a meeting to discuss your request. Schools are unable to authorise any holidays during term time. If children are absent from school for a holiday during term time parents will face a Penalty Notice.
The Attendance Policy followed by Meridian Trust Academies adheres to DfE and LA Guidance, which includes the use of legal action and Penalty Notices (fines currently at a rate of up to £120 per parent, per child; failure to pay may result in court proceedings). The policy is available via the trust’s website (https://www.meridiantrust.co.uk/key-information/attendance/).
On the rare occasion where children may need to be absent from school for another reason, there is form attached below to make a “Request for an Exceptional Leave of Absence”. This will need to be submitted to the Headteacher with plenty of notice.