Attendance & Illness
Our Commitment to Attendance: Every Day Counts
At Ferrars, we believe that regular attendance is the single most important factor in a student’s academic success and social wellbeing. When a student is absent, they don’t just miss a lesson; they miss the social interactions, the confidence-building moments, and the foundational knowledge that keeps them on track.
Understanding Persistent Absence
The Department for Education defines Persistent Absence (PA) as any student whose attendance falls below 90%. While missing a day here or there might not seem significant, a 90% attendance rate actually means a student has missed four weeks of schooling across the year.
We monitor attendance data closely to identify patterns early, allowing us to step in and offer help before a student's progress is impacted.
How We Support Our Families
We understand that every family faces unique challenges, whether it’s health issues, anxiety, or external circumstances. Our approach to tackling persistent absence is rooted in partnership, not just policy.
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Early Intervention: We reach out to parents as soon as attendance trends become a concern to discuss any underlying barriers.
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The Attendance/Well Being Team: Our dedicated staff work one-on-one with students to create bespoke attendance support plans that help them feel safe and excited to come to school.
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Incentives and Celebration: We celebrate improved attendance, not just perfect attendance, recognizing the hard work it takes to turn a trend around.
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Clear Communication: We keep you informed with regular updates so that there are never any surprises regarding your child's attendance record.
Working Together
Education is a shared journey. We ask that parents communicate with us as early as possible if they are struggling to get their child into school. By working together, we can ensure that every student has the opportunity to reach their full potential and stay connected to our school community.
Need to Talk?
If you have concerns about your child’s attendance or need support with morning routines, please contact our Attendance Officer at fjsadmin@ferrars.co.uk We are here to help.
Attendance Procedures and Documents
- When your child is away from school, for any reason, it is important that you inform the school by telephone on the first day of absence.
- We have twenty trained first aiders and can deal promptly with any illness or minor accidents. When a child is taken ill at school every effort is made to contact the parents.
- When a child is taken ill at school, every effort is made to contact the parents. It is the parent's responsibilty to collect their child and arrange for them to be taken home, to the doctor or to the hospital. It is vital that our list of pupils' telephone numbers, parent's work numbers and other emergency numbers is kept up to date.
- If your child is ill with German Measles, Meningitis or any other serious illness please report it to the Headteacher, in writing, as soon as possible.
- Please do not send your child to school if he/she has been sick or had diarrhoea. Your child should be kept at home for 48 hours before they return to school.
- We can only administer medicines that have been prescribed by a doctor for at least 4 times a day and where a parent has signed an indemnity form. These forms can be obtained from the school reception or you can download one using the button below.
- The law does not give any entitlement to parents or carers to take their child out of school on holiday during term time.
- Headteachers have the discretion to authorise Leave of Absence only in exceptional circumstances.
- Applications for Leave of Absence Requests must be made in advance or the absence cannot be legally authorised. Please use the button below to access more information and to download the form.
