Attendance
Parents are responsible for ensuring that a child of ‘school
age’ is educated. Each child’s absence from school must be
recorded. Authorised absences are those approved by the school.
Unauthorised absences are registered truancies or unexplained absences.
All pupils
are registered at 9.00am each morning. As
registration is computerised all teachers register each class every
period. Discrepencies are picked up by the school office and the matter
investigated. If a pupil cannot be located the school will endeavour to
inform the parents or contact person for that child.
If a child
has been absent for any reason he/she must provide a letter of
explanation to the school office. Unsatisfactory attendance patterns
will result in parents being called for interview and if the matter is
not resolved, a referral to the Attendance and Welfare Officer will
occur.
It is the responsibility of pupils and parents to ensure
that any work that is missed is caught up with. Truancy or condoned
absences will not be accepted and pupils may be requested to attend
school on staff ‘In-Service Days’ to catch up.
If Pupils need to request time off
If
a pupil requires time off school for any reason other than illness, a
parent should put a request in writing to the Head Teacher well in
advance.
Also, if a pupil plans to leave school permanently or
intends to transfer to another school, it is courteous to inform the
school in advance. We can then transfer work to their new school.
At
Langholm Academy, we endeavour to provide a quality education for all
our pupils. We are unable to do this if pupils are withdrawn from
school for a period of time.
Parents are therefore asked to please
keep pupil absences to a minimum. Absence due to illness is
unavoidable, but withdrawal for reasons other than illness is not
encouraged. We do realise that there are occasions when parents are
unable to take holidays when their children are off school. However,
the school cannot sanction holidays during term time. Such holidays are
now to be recorded as ‘unauthorised absence’ and a letter
will be sent home indicating the Authority stance on this.