Absences
We are required by the Ministry of Education to maintain a twice-daily register of attendance, a document
which we can be asked to produce in court if necessary. The Ministry tracks truancy by means of a set of codes (see below) which we are required to apply to the attendance record.
Please also note the school's policy regarding children who are sick. The full policy is below under "Resources" but in summary:
- Pupils are not permitted to attend school if they exhibit any of the following symptoms:
- Persisent cough, sneezing or respiratory tract infection.
- Moderate or severe sore throat.
- Vomiting or diarrhoea within the preceding 48 hours (note change from 24hrs)
- High temperature.
- Purulent or coloured discharge from the eyes, nose or ears .
- Pupils are not permitted to attend school if they have any communicable disease specified from
time to time by the Department of Health, including:
measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, tuberculosis, campylobacter, Hepatitis A or B, whooping cough, meningitis, salmonella poisoning or streptococcal throat infection.
We also complete a daily review of attendance and
follow-up on any unexplained absence to ensure that your child has not met misadventure on the way to school.
It is important, therefore, that not only is the school informed of your child's absence on the morning that
it occurs, but also that a valid reason is provided so that we can enter a suitable code in our register.
An absence can be advised to the school by any one of the following means:
- Telephone the School Office 365-0385
- Send an email to the School Office
- Send an email to your child's teacher..but he/she may not read it until late in the day!
- Forward a note to your child's teacher
- Leave a message at the School Office
- Speak directly to your child's teacher