There will be occasions when your children will not be able to attend school. They may be ill and there could be unavoidable medical appointments. Religious observance and short term unavoidable family crisis could mean that your children are not at school but the table below shows why your child’s education is at risk if they don’t attend school regularly.

Our school day starts at 8.30am and finishes at 3pm each day. 

If your child is absent from school, please email absence@lawn-pri.swindon.sch.uk or contact the school office on 01793 522626 or before 8:15am to notify us of the absence. Failure to report your child's absence will result in them receiving an unauthorised mark in their attendance record.

Returning to School

If your child’s illness involved vomiting or diarrhoea they should not return to school until 48 hours after their last bout of sickness or diarrhoea. For other illnesses, which may be contagious, please contact the school office to check the latest guidance on when it is safe for them to return.

Appointments

Non urgent appointments for the doctor, dentist or opticians should be made outside of school hours. If this is unavoidable, then if you need to take your child out of school during the day, or need to collect them early for any reason, can we please ask that you complete and return a ‘Request for A Partial Day’s Absence’ form to the office, prior to the absence. This form can be found below and downloaded.

This new form is to be used only for partial absences only and does not replace the Request for Absence Form which should be completed for any absence for a whole day or more.

Punctuality

Children must attend on time to be given a mark for each session the school is open, unless the lateness is unavoidable. If your child arrives after the registers have closed (8.50am) they will received a Late mark.  Lateness after 9:20am, without good reason, will result in your child receiving an unauthorised absence mark for that session.

Late arrivals should sign in at the school office before joining their class for the rest of the day.

Our School Attendance Officer and Families' Link Worker monitor punctuality on a daily basis. If a child is late more than three times in a week or any pattern is emerging, then parents will be contacted and a meeting will be held. The school will set up an Attendance Agreement with parents and further breaches of this Attendance Agreement could lead to a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued.

Education Welfare Officer (EWO)

The school can call on the EWO to check attendance figures and/or follow up any concerns the school may have regarding poor attendees, persistent lateness or pupil welfare. Parents have a legal obligation to ensure that their child attends school; persistent failure to do so could lead to the Local Authority taking legal action.

For further information click to read our Attendance Policy

Authorised Absence

Under section 199 Education Act 1993, the parent of a child of compulsory school age registered at school, must apply for authorised absence. An authorised absence from 1st September 2013 can only be granted if the circumstance is deemed ‘exceptional’ (DfE guidance) by the school.

Examples of absences not deemed as ‘exceptional’

• Holidays during term time
• Getting up late
• Shopping
• Looking after family members or the house
• Birthdays
• Issues relating to parents’ employment

A ‘request for absence’ form is available at the school office for you to complete or download from the link below. You will be informed as to the outcome. Families of children who take absences from school not authorised as ‘exceptional’, are liable to a fine of £60 per child per parent.

Request for authorised absence form can be found below and downloaded.