Regular attendance is important and absence should be restricted to the unavoidable.  It is a legal requirement that schools keep accurate records of student attendance. 

Absence due to illness

a) On the FIRST day of absence you are requested to telephone or email the school, giving your child’s name and tutor group and explaining that he/she is absent. There is no need to contact us on subsequent days of absence.

b) On the day that your child returns to school, please use one of the following methods to confirm the dates on which your child has been absent, and provide a brief explanation of the reason for the absence (please remember to give your child’s name and tutor group):

• write and sign a letter which the student should hand to his/her form tutor
• send an email to attendance@colytongrammar.devon.sch.uk
• telephone the school

c) If no communication about your child’s return to school has been received within two weeks, you will receive an email reminder (a letter will be sent if we hold no email address for you). Please use one of the following methods in response:

• print off the email, complete the information about the reason for the absence(s), sign and either post it to the school or ask your child to hand it in at the Admin Centre
• send an email to attendance@colytongrammar.devon.sch.uk
• telephone the school

Advance permission for medical appointments should be obtained from the form tutor and then confirmed by letter.

Request for absence

From September 2013, amendments to The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 regulations remove references to family holiday and extended leave as well as the statutory threshold of ten school days. The amendments make clear that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.

All requests for absence must be made in advance and submitted on the Absence Request Form available here.
Leave of absence cannot be authorised retrospectively. 

Authorised and unauthorised
 
The law requires that all schools must show the difference between authorised and unauthorised absence.

Authorised absence can be:

• Sickness
• Medical or dental appointments which cannot be arranged outside school hours
• Days of religious observance
• Exceptional circumstances such as bereavement
• Seeing a parent who is on leave from the armed forces

Unauthorised absence is:

• Truancy
• Staying at home to look after younger children or sick relatives
• Birthdays
• Resting after a late night
• Relatives visiting or visiting relatives
• Attending concerts or having days out to attend local events
• Any absence which the school has not been informed about by letter and approved

Lateness

Students who are late for registration (either in the morning or afternoon) must sign the late book in Reception.