Absence

At Thames Ditton Infant School, we believe that good attendance is not simply a legal requirement but essential to their Well-being. Through regular attendance children can take full advantage of all that school offers and gain the educational and social skills necessary for life.

Good attendance at school is important for children’s education and establishes a positive working ethos early in life. It is essential that the school is informed of the reasons for absence. Under current government legislation, unauthorised absence is regarded as truancy; all absence figures have to be reported to the council and the Department for Education and are recorded on a child’s annual report.

Surrey County Council monitors attendance closely and the Inclusion team gets involved if a child’s absence falls below 90%

it is also important that your child arrives on time for school, as the start of the day establishes the learning activities for the day.

Lateness is recorded in the register. We are legally bound to register a pupil's attendance at the beginning of each morning and afternoon session.

Children arriving after 8.55am must be brought and signed in via the school Inventry system. These children will receive a 'L' code, late arrival. Children arriving after 9.10am will receive a 'U' code and their attendance will be unauthorised absence for the morning session. 

Notifying us of your child’s absence from school due to illness

If your child is unwell and unable to attend school, you have two ways of notifying us of this. Please contact the school office before 9am to let us know reason for absence. If the school office has not had any notification from you by this time, we will telephone you. You can either leave an absence voicemail for us by ringing 020 83985842 and selecting option 1 or sending an email to the school office—office@thames-ditton-infant.surrey.sch.uk. It is worth noting that you can leave a voicemail message at any time of day, you do not need to wait for school to open to leave a message. You can also use this email address to notify us in advance of any planned absences for medical appointments.

Returning to school after diarrhoea or vomiting

Public Health England (PHE)’s ‘Guidance on Infection Control in Schools’ (March 2017) states that following diarrhoea and/or vomiting, children should be kept away from school for 48 hours from the last episode of diarrhoea or vomiting. As a school we have adopted this PHE policy and any child who has had diarrhoea or sickness will not be permitted to return to school for 48 hours from their last episode.

Request for Leave of Absence for one day – Please email the school office giving details of your child’s name, class and reason for absence. If no reason for absence is given then it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.

Request for Leave of Absence in Exceptional Circumstances - This form must, wherever possible, be completed prior to the leave date and preferably at least two weeks before.  Please note exceptional circumstances are not term time family holidays or birthday celebrations.