Illness, Absence & Leave of Absence
Good attendance and punctuality is a core principle of school life. Good attendance not only allows your child to make the best progress they can but also prepares them to grow into responsible, reliable adults. At Bernards Heath we expect all children to have an attendance rate of at least 96% and at regular intervals during the year we will share your child’s attendance record with you if we feel that they might not be reaching 96%.
Illness
If your child becomes ill at school we will telephone the agreed emergency contact. It is therefore really important that you always make sure we have your most up-to-date contact details. If we cannot reach the agreed contacts and we have assessed that your child needs medical attention, a member of staff known to them would accompany them to minor injuries or to hospital.
Absence due to illness
We expect each child to attend school every day unless they are ill. Please inform us of any absence from school on the morning of the first day of absence – please telephone the office (01727 852106) as soon as possible to leave a message with the staff or on our answer phone. We need to know why your child will not be at school so please remember to tell us what the reason is e.g. temperature/chicken pox. If your child has sickness and/or diarrhoea, they must not return to school for at 48 hours after the last episode.
Leave of Absence from School
One of the best ways to support your child at school is to ensure that you take your family holidays within school holiday time. There are 13 weeks of school holidays a year and we give term dates to parents a year in advance so that plans can be made. If you find yourself in the position of needing to take leave of absence from school, please inform us in writing. A member of our team will contact you and will ask you to complete a written form. Requests for holidays during term time will not usually be authorised unless there are exceptional circumstances, an example of this might be a family wedding held on a week day.