As a parent or carer, you have a legal requirement to ensure your child attends school on a regular basis. Therefore, you hold the responsibility to promote good attendance and punctuality.

We do understand there are times when children will need to be absent from school. As a result, we will only consider authorising absences in the following instances:

• For sickness or ill health
• For medical or dental appointments which fall during school hours (on the understanding that proof of appointment is given)
• For religious or cultural observances
• For a family emergency

How to tell us if your child is going to be off school

Telephone the school office on school number 0191 3009750 before 9.00am and leave a message on the answer machine or speak to a member of staff.

you must give a reason why your child is not able to attend school and tell us when you think they will be back.

If your child does not return on the suggested day you must contact school again to discuss why the absence is continuing

Failure to follow this procedure may result in the child receiving an unauthorised absence and could lead to us informing the local attendance officer, should their attendance fall below 90 percent.

Unsure if you should keep your child off school or if it’s ok to send them back to school, check out the NHS guidance.

If we don’t hear from you

This is known as ‘First Day Response’; we must be sure your child is safe and well and if we don’t hear from you before 9.00am we will call you to find out where they are.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that you keep us up to date with telephone numbers for yourself and other people on your emergency contact list. If we can’t get hold of anyone to check your child is safe and well, we may visit your home or in extreme cases inform the police

Punctuality

We must also state the importance of punctuality with regards to the beginning of the school day. You will be aware that the school day starts at 08:50 and all pupils are expected to be on school premises at this time. Should your child arrive after the register closes, they will receive a mark to show that they are on-site, though this will still be recorded as an absence. Continuous lateness will, therefore, result in several unauthorised absences, despite your child being on-site for the rest of the school day. 

Holidays during term time

At Spring Gardens Primary School, 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 set. (Follow this link for North Tyneside School Holiday Dates).

The DfE has made it clear that headteachers are not to authorise absence for any holidays during term time, except under exceptional circumstances.

We will not, therefore, grant authorisation for absence in the following instances:

• Day trips and holidays in term time
• Leaving school unnecessarily during the school day
• Not attending school for an unnecessary reason such as shopping or birthdays
• Truancy before or during the school day
• Absences which have not been properly explained or have failed to follow the absence procedure

If parents/carers intend to take a holiday they are asked to complete a Leave of Absence During Term Time Request Form (hard copies are available from the school office or link at the bottom of the page).

Taking a pupil out of school for a term time holiday will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and will be subject to a penalty notice. 

Under the new National Framework for Penalty Notices issued by the DfE, the following changes will come into force for School Penalty Notice Fines issued after 19^th August 2024:

First offence: The first penalty notice issued for unauthorised absence is a fine of £80 if paid within 21 days of receipt, rising to £160 if the notice is paid after 21 days but within 28 days.  

Second Offence: If a second penalty notice is issued within a 3-year period for unauthorised absence, then the fine is a flat rate of £160 paid within 28 days.

Third Offence: The third time an offence is committed a penalty notice will not be issued and the case will be presented straight to the Magistrate’s Court.

Prosecution can result in Criminal record and fines of up to £2,500

If the penalty is not paid in full by the end of the 28-day period, the Local Authority will prosecute for the offence to which the notice applies.

Where there is more than one child, each parent may be issued with a Penalty Notice in respect of each child.

As the Penalty Notice are fixed the legislation does not allow part-payment to be made or payments by instalments.

You can either use the links below to download a form, pop into the school office or complete the form online using this link