Attendance & Holidays

Attendance and holidays

Catherine Junior School is a successful school and your child plays their part in making it so. We aim for an environment which enables and encourages all members of the community to reach out for excellence.  For our children to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attend regularly and your child should be at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.  As a school we will work closely with the Education Welfare Service to support regular school attendance.  This school attendance policy is written to reflect the law and also the guidance produced by the Department for Education.

It is very important that you make sure that your child attends regularly. See our attendance policy.

Holidays in Term Time

Taking holidays in term time will affect your child’s schooling as much as any other absence and we expect parents/carers to help their child by not taking children away in term time.  Remember that any savings you think you may make by taking a holiday in school time are offset by the cost to your child’s education.  There is no automatic entitlement in law to time off in school time to go on holiday or other trips.

Applications for absence must be made in writing to the Headteacher.

Any absences that the school does not consider to be exceptional will be marked as unauthorised and the Local Authority may issue fines (£160 per parent, per child). 

Please note that where parents choose to take their child(ren) out of school for term time holidays, on the third occasion it is likely that the Local Authority will not issue a penalty notice but rather will proceed directly to the Magistrates Court in relation to the parent’s failure to ensure regular attendance.

Attendance Information Leaflet