Behaviour & Attendance
The children are encouraged towards self-discipline and maturity in an environment where caring for one another and for property is valued highly.
Respect for themselves and for one another is taught in the context of Gospel teaching – loving your neighbour and treating others as you would wish to be treated. Indeed, this lies at the heart of the school’s mission. The children themselves have played an important part in helping formulate our Behaviour Policy by offering guidelines of acceptable behaviour. Good, firm but fair discipline in the classroom is essential for effective teaching to take place.
Strategies and sanctions for dealing with unacceptable behaviour are common to each class. Teachers, Learning Support Assistants, Midday Meals Supervisors, Support Staff and parents work together and if there is concern about a child’s behaviour, parents will always be consulted. We expect high standards of behaviour. This is outlined within the: Behaviour Policy
and Home School Agreement. These are made available when a child commences school.
Managing Behaviour Letter
Exclusion document – Department of Education
Statement of Behaviour Principles
Attendance and Punctuality
Children are actively encouraged to develop a positive attitude to attendance and punctuality. If children are late after 8.50am, they need to enter the school via the main entrance so that their attendance can be noted. If children are persistently late, an interview will be sought with the parents as we recognise that it has a serious and detrimental effect on a child’s attitude and overall education.
Parents are reminded that they need to request authorisation for planned absence in advance from the headteacher. A form is available for this purpose from the school office. This should be requested as far in advance of the absence as possible.
Applications for absence are considered carefully, taking into account the child’s rate of previous absence and particular situation.
Unexpected absence
Unexpected absences, such as sickness, should be notified to the school office, either by phone or in person, before 10.00am on the first day of absence. A written note of explanation should also accompany the child on the first day of return to school so that the appropriate absence code can be entered in the attendance register. Requests for absence for holidays in school time can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Parents need to complete the Absence Request Form and also write to the School Governors explaining the exceptional reasons for the request for holiday absence. As much notice as possible needs to given as the Headteacher has to consider the given reasons with the governors. It cannot be presumed that requests for Holiday absence will be authorised.
If the holiday absence is not authorised and the child is absent from school on the given dates the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and could result in a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued to the parents. Further information about Fixed Penalty Notices is available below