Attendance

On this page you will find the school procedures for Attendance at Moss Hall Schools Federation. Please take time to read them.

It is essential that children attend regularly and maintain a pattern of good attendance throughout their school career. The link between attendance and attainment in school is clear.

The more a pupil is in school the more they increase their opportunity to fulfil their potential. 

Absences due to Sickness

If your child is not attending school, please contact the school on the first day of absence by 9am. You can do this by emailing the relevant school office (office@mhi.org.uk for the Infant School and office@mosshalljnr.barnetmail.net for the Junior School) or by telephoning the relevant school number (020 8445 9735 for the Infant School or 020 8445 7965 for the Junior School) and leaving a voicemail message for the Attendance Officer.

If the school has not heard from a parent/carer as to why their child is absent by 9:30am on the first day of absence, the school will contact them. First contact will be made via SchoolPing, with a phone call following by 10am if the parent does not respond.

Planned absences

Please try to arrange medical appointments during holiday times or out of school hours.

If you cannot make doctor or dentist appointments out of school hours, wherever possible the child should come to school before the appointment and return to school afterwards. Please provide a written explanation or an appointment letter beforehand.

If you wish to take your child out of school for a religious observance please inform the school beforehand with a written explanation at the earliest opportunity.

Late arrival

All children should be in class for registration by 9am. Children arriving after 9am must enter school via the school office and report to the Attendance Officer to receive their mark in the register.

From 9:15am, children must be accompanied to the school office by an adult who must explain why their child is late and sign them into school.

Requests for Absence

The Head of School’s permission must be sought in writing, in advance, for any known absence of one day or more.  A request must be made via the Attendance Officer and permission granted before any arrangements are made, including travel arrangements. 

The Head of School can only authorise an absence in exceptional circumstances, on one occasion only in each key stage. Each request for absence will be looked at individually by the Head of School and the parent/carer will be informed by letter whether the absence has been authorised or not. If the Head of School cannot authorise a requested absence and the parent/carer still removes their child from school, the absence will be unauthorised and will be recorded as such in the class register. This will then be reported to the Education Welfare Officer from the London Borough of Barnet, who may wish to issue a fixed penalty notice. If a child fails to return to school on the expected date, any extra days will be unauthorised and will be reported to the Education Welfare Officer from the London Borough of Barnet unless a valid reason is given and accepted by the Head of School. If a child fails to return to school after 10 days have elapsed from the expected date and no valid reason has been given for the continued absence, the school may remove the child from the school roll.

The school can only authorise an absence in the following circumstances:

• Genuine illness
• Dental/Medical appointments (these should be made out of school hours where possible)
• Family bereavement
• Religious observance

What is NOT acceptable?

• Caring for a parent or sibling
• Going shopping
• Day trips
• Birthdays
• Bad weather

Family holidays must not be taken during the school term. The guidelines from the London Borough of Barnet state that under no circumstances should schools authorise absence for holidays or other circumstances on the grounds of cost.

If you take your child on holiday without authorisation, the Local Education Authority has the power to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice of £60 per parent per child, rising to £120 if not paid within 28 days. Failure to pay can result in a criminal record and a fine of up to £1000.

Requests for absence should be made by completing and returning the attached Special leave of Absence Request form to the relevant school office. 

If you need to take your child out of school during the day please let the school know in writing, before the date, stating the reason, the date and time of collection. This must be addressed to the school office.

When collecting your child, please sign him/her out of school at the school office.

Please try to make medical appointments out of school hours.

It is a parent’s legal responsibility to ensure their child is in school. All patterns of attendance; holidays, lateness, medical and sickness are monitored closely and in cases of poor attendance/punctuality referrals are likely to be made to the Education Welfare Officer at the London Borough of Barnet. The school’s endeavours in trying to reduce absence are also monitored.

We appreciate that the majority of our school community already follow the guidelines and we appreciate your continued support in this matter.