If your child is absent from school, please notify the school office at the earliest opportunity by one of the following methods:

• Telephone the school office on 01462 623322 and either speak to a member of staff or leave a message on the answer machine
• Email - absences@stnicholas23.herts.sch.uk

Attendance

Where parents decide to have their child registered at school, they have a legal duty to ensure their child attends that school regularly, on time. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend.

Is my child too ill for school?

Registration and Lateness

The school site is open to parents to drop off children directly to their classrooms from 8.45am.

Registers will be called as promptly at 8.55am; arriving after this time will result in a child being marked as 'late'.  Children arriving after 9.30am without a satisfactory explanation will have their absence unauthorised.

If lateness persists, the school will contact the parents to discuss the matter.

Holidays during Term Time

To inform the school of holiday absence, you must complete this form and read the information below.

There is no entitlement in law for pupils to take time off during the term to go on holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure or recreation, or to take part in protest activity in school hours.

Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are "exceptional circumstances". It is a rule of this school that a leave of absence shall not be granted in term time unless there are reasons considered to be exceptional by the headteacher, irrespective of the child’s overall attendance.

At Norton St Nicholas School, ‘exceptional’ is defined as events that are “rare, significant, unavoidable and short”. By 'unavoidable' we mean an event that could not reasonably be scheduled at another time, outside of school term time, regardless of who has planned or paid for the holiday or absence (including grandparents or other family or friends).