Attendance
Attendance
In line with the current guidance and upon instruction from the Department for Education, School attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age and it is a priority for us to ensure that all children regularly attend school, particularly after the 2 years of disruption.
Attendance and punctuality continue to be a key priority at Foxfield. Consistency in attendance is essential if children are to make progress and take an active part in school life. In the case of pupil absence, parents should always inform the school on the first day of absence by phoning, writing or in person, so that we can record the reason for the absence. This is particularly important if an infectious illness is involved to allow the school to respond in line with Public Health England guidance.
Medical evidence is requested by the school for any absences to be authorised and can be a copy of a prescription, an appointment card or the medication itself.
Punctuality
As with attendance, it is very important that children arrive to school on time each day, every minute missed adds up to a vast amount of learning time lost over the school year. Children who arrive late regularly miss starting the day with their peers and the beginning of lessons. This can also be disrupting for the rest of the class and teacher.
School starts at 8.50 am every day. Your child will be classified as being late if they are not on the school premises by 9 am.
As with irregular attendance, if your child is continuously late for school we will invite parents/guardians in to meet with members of the Executive Leadership Team or the Attendance Officer from Royal Greenwich to discuss their child’s punctuality.
COVID-19
From Friday 1st April the long term government strategy for ‘living with Covid’ came into place. The UK approach to managing COVID -19 is now very similar to how we manage other forms of respiratory infections as the success of the vaccination programme means that most people with COVID-19 will only experience very mild illness.
Below we have outlined what this means for us as an education setting:
- Children with mild symptoms such as a runny nose, sore throat, or mild cough, who are otherwise well, can continue to attend school.
- Children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and where possible avoid contact with other people. They can come back to school when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough.
- If a child or young person has a positive COVID19 test result they should stay at home and where possible avoid contact with other people for 3 days after the day they took the test. The risk of passing the infection on to others is much lower after 3 days if they feel well and do not have a high temperature.
- Children and young people who live with someone who has a positive COVID19 test result should continue to attend as normal.
We know that the last two years have been very challenging for us all and we want to thank you for your support during this period.
If there are any concerns you may have which you feel prevent you from ensuring your child’s regular attendance and punctuality to school, please contact the school office on 020 3260 7500 or email admin@foxfield.greenwich.sch.uk
