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At Hellingly we expect all children on roll to attend every day, when the school is in session, as long as they are fit and healthy enough to do so.
Good attendance is important because:
• statistics show a direct link between under-achievement and absence below 95%
• regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically
• regular attenders find school routines, school work and friendships easier to cope with
• regular attenders find learning more satisfying
• regular attenders are more successful in transferring between primary school, secondary school, and higher education, employment or training
Hellingly Community Primary School Pick up and drop off points and times 2023-2024
| Class | Drop off time | Gate | Drop off | Pick up time | Pick up |
| Galaxies (R) | 8.45 | Playground gate | Classroom gate | 3.15 | Classroom door |
| Asteroids (1) | 8.45 | Playground gate | Middle Double Doors | 3.15 | Middle Double Doors |
| Comets (2) | 8.45 | Playground gate | Classroom door | 3.15 | Classroom door |
| Satellites (3) | 8.45 | Playground gate | Classroom door | 3.15 | Classroom door |
| Meteors (4) | 8.45 | Playground gate | Middle Double Doors | 3.15 | Classroom door |
| Planets (5) | 8.45 | Playground gate | Middle Double Doors | 3.15 | Classroom door |
| Stars (6) | 8.45 | Playground gate | Classroom door | 3.15 | Classroom door |
What do you if your child is late, ill or has an appointment?
First day absence
A child not attending school is considered a safeguarding matter. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required.
If your child is absent you must:
• Contact us as soon as possible on the first day of absence – Parents are asked to ring the school absence line on 01323 844346 option 1 before 8.45 a.m. and leave a message stating name, class and detailed reason for absence.
If your child is absent and we have had no contact from you we will:
• Telephone, text or e-mail you on the first day of absence – this is because we have a duty to ensure your child’s safety as well as their regular school attendance.
It is the responsibility of all parents to inform the school on a daily basis if your child is going to be absent from school that day.
Please note: If your child is not seen and contact has not been established with any of the named parents/carers, after three days of absence the school is required to start child missing in education procedures. We will make all reasonable enquiries to establish contact with parents/carers and the child, including making enquiries to known friends, wider family and home visits.
What to do if you think your child has COVID-19
If your child is late
It is important to be on time at the start of the morning and afternoon school sessions and to lessons. The start of school is used to give out instructions or organise work. If your child is late they can miss work time with their class teacher getting vital information and cause disruption to the lesson for others.
• The school day begins at 8:45 and all pupils are expected to be in school at this time. Pupils arriving after 8.55am must go through the office entrance and sign in. Morning registration is at 8:55 am and it closes at 9:15 a.m. Any child who arrives between 8.55am and 9.15am will receive an L code in the register
• All lateness is recorded daily.
• Arrival after the close of registration at 9.15am will be marked as unauthorised absence and coded U in-line with East Sussex County Council and Department of Education guidance. This mark shows them to be on site, but is legally recorded as an unauthorised absence.
• If a pupil is late due to a medical appointment, they will receive an authorised absence for that session, coded M. Please be advised that, where possible, doctors and dentists appointments should be made outside of school hours or during school holidays.
Pupils who are consistently late are disrupting not only their own education but also that of the other pupils. Ongoing and repeated lateness is considered as unauthorised absence and may be subject to legal action.
End of day collection
Please collect your child promptly at the end of the school day. Where late collection is persistent and/or significantly late, the school is obliged to take any uncollected pupil to a place of safety and share concerns, as necessary, with other agencies.
Absence and Holidays During Term Time
- Parents are advised that we wish them to be transparent about term time holidays. It is not unreasonable for school to ask that a child attends the 190 schools days during the academic year
- School reserves the right to unauthorised term time absence and/or issue a fixed penalty fine, but we wish to avoid that and ask you refrain from term time absence, or speak to us in confidence why there may be a genuine reason that your child be absent during term time
Attendance Records Monitoring
It is the responsibility of the governors to monitor overall attendance, and they will request an annual report from the headteacher. The governing body also has the responsibility for this policy, and for seeing that it is carried out. The governors will therefore examine closely the information provided them, and seek to ensure that our attendance figures are as high
as they should be.
The school will keep accurate attendance records on file for a minimum period of three years.