Attendance is important at Brentside Primary for several reasons:

• Punctuality and regular attendance is a life skill and consequently an excellent preparation for adult life
• Pupils who attend regularly are more likely to make better progress
• It is the legal responsibly of the parent to ensure that their child attends regularly and is punctual

What you need to do if your child is absent

Please make sure you let us know the reasons for your child’s absence, either by telephone, in writing, or verbally to the class teacher or our Administrators. We would also ask you to inform us by telephone on the first morning of absence if your child is not well enough to attend school. This is purely for safety reasons. If we do not hear from you, we will contact you to check all is well.
 
If you have more than one child attending the school, please ensure the other siblings come to school even if one child may be at home unwell.

Family Holidays in Term Time

We understand that parents will make requests for absence for family holidays from time to time. The school is not able to authorise any school holidays whilst the school is in session. Any unauthorised absences will be reported to Ealing Local Authority and parents may be liable for a £60 fine per child.
 
You should also ensure that you do not take family holidays in the time leading up to KS1 and KS2 SATs in Years 2 and 6. If you cannot postpone your family holidays to school holiday times, it is possible that your child may be removed from the school roll after a two week period. 

Unauthorised Absence

We consider an absence to be unauthorised if the absence does not fall in the criteria for authorised absence laid down by the DfE. Attendance has been identified as a key concern and our levels of absence are closely monitored by Ealing LA and the DfE.

 
Persistent Absence

Any child with an attendance record of below 90% will be written to by BPA to try and encourage better levels of attendance.
 
If BPA has concerns over your child’s level of attendance we may ask for a medical certificate or letter from the doctor in the event of a medical absence.
 
Persistent unauthorised absences will be reported to the Educational Social Worker for Ealing Council. This could result in you being served with a Penalty Notice or a summons to court. Parents have a duty to ensure their child’s regular attendance at school and failure to do so is an offence under Section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996.

Attendance and Safeguarding

At BPA we regularly monitor every child's attendance, paying particular attention to more vunerable pupils within our community.  At BPA we acknowledge the connection that sometimes exists between poor attendance and safeguarding concerns.  If the school has concern over a pupils attendance, or we do not know that the child is safe then we may refer the case to social services.