King Richard School aims to provide an environment which enables and encourages all members of the community to reach out for excellence. For students to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that students attend school as much as possible. Any absence affects a student’s schooling pattern and this in turn has a direct detrimental effect on the student’s learning and an indirect effect on the others in the class.
In addition to the obvious effect on learning, it is the legal responsibility of the parent to ensure good attendance when possible. This is, in part, due to safeguarding aspect that surround absence from school. Children may be at risk of harm should they not attend school regularly. Within the military context there may be some extenuating reasons for school absence; amongst these are authorised absences for post operational leave purposes. This will be granted as per MOD Schools guidelines on request. Absence can also be affected due to transport to UK. As there are only two ‘trooper’ flights per week the school’s context means attending school after leave in UK can be a complex issue. Further details regarding attendance at school can be found in the school attendance policy.
Should your child not be able to attend school then it is important that the school is informed. This should be done before school starts on the first day of absence. The attendance clerk can contacted on the following number:
Attendance Clerk
Telephone: 24748354
Should the absence be planned in advance then a ‘Leave of Absence’ form should be completed. These are available from the administration office and a copy needs to be completed, signed by the member of the Senior Leadership Team and retained during your leave of absence.
The school considers an attendance level of 95% to be the minimum target level. School will contact you each half-term should this level of attendance not be met. Should the level of attendance fall below 90%, then this would be deemed to be persistent absence. This would necessitate a meeting between relevant stakeholders to ensure that all support is in place to return the attendance to the minimum target level.
Should any further information regarding attendance be required then please contact the school or follow the link to the following site:
https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence/overview