Attendance and Transport
Attendance
📅 Reporting Your Child’s Absence
If your child is unable to attend school, please contact us before 9:30am on each day of absence.
📞 Telephone: 01952 387600
If we do not hear from you, school staff will follow up the absence to ensure your child is safe and accounted for.
🚪 Leaving School During the Day
If your child needs to leave school during the day, for example for a medical appointment:
✅ A parent or authorised adult must collect them from the school office.
✅ Your child must be signed out and signed back in when they return.
✅ Please let us know in advance whenever possible to avoid the absence being treated as unexplained.
🩺 Medical and Dental Appointments
We understand that appointments are sometimes unavoidable. However, wherever possible, routine medical, dental and optician appointments should be arranged:
- After school
- During school holidays
- Outside school hours
🏡 Home Visits and Welfare Checks
Your child’s safety and wellbeing are extremely important to us.
If a child is absent for three consecutive days without explanation, we may ask the Education Welfare Officer to carry out a home visit.
Where there are concerns about a child’s welfare, a home visit may take place sooner, including on the first or second day of absence.
🤒 Returning to School After Illness
Some illnesses require children to remain away from school even after symptoms have improved.
This may include illnesses such as:
- Norovirus
- Influenza (flu)
- Other contagious infections
Please contact the school if you are unsure when your child should return.
🔒 Keeping Children Safe
For safeguarding reasons, we will never allow a child to leave school during the day unless they are collected by:
✅ A parent/carer
✅ An adult authorised by the parent/carer
Leave in term time:
It is only the Headteacher (or delegated member of School Staff) who has the discretion to authorise any request for leave in term time and it is also they that decide the duration of that leave. Parents must submit a request for leave in term time to the school, allowing ample time for consideration to be given. Any circumstances that parents wish to be considered should be included in the request. Holidays should not be booked before permission is granted. The legislation does not allow for any school to adopt a blanket ban, all requests for leave in term time will be considered to determine if there are exceptional circumstances and parents must be notified of that decision.
Penalty Notices:
The government introduced changes in legislation from August 2024 that parents need to be aware of:
· If your child has 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a 10 school week rolling period, you may be issued with a Penalty Notice. These 10 sessions may include any unauthorised absence, including leave in term time and sessions do not have to be consecutive.
· If in an individual case the local authority believes a Penalty Notice would be appropriate, they retain the discretion to issue one before the threshold is met, so for eight sessions of unauthorised absence. This might apply for example, when parent(s) are deliberately or purposefully avoiding the national threshold by taking several term time holidays below threshold, or for repeated absence for events such as birthdays and taking their child out of school, or when there are only four pupil days in school and the fifth day is for example a PD day or bank holiday
· Penalty Notices increased to £160 from August 2024. This can be reduced to £80 but only for the first Penalty Notice issued, if paid within 21 days – this reduction does not apply to any subsequent Penalty Notice.
· Any 2nd Penalty Notice, to the same parent for the same child, issued within three years of the date of the first Penalty Notice will be charged at a flat rate of £160
· A third Penalty Notice will not be issued within a three-year rolling period, to the same parent for the unauthorised absence of the same child, – alternative action or legal measures will be utilised for subsequent offences.
· Penalty notices are intended to prevent the need for court action and should only be used where it is deemed likely to change parental behaviour and support to secure regular attendance has been provided and has not worked or been engaged with or would not have been appropriate in the circumstances of the offence (e.g. as is usually the case for an unauthorised holiday in term time).
· In some circumstances a ‘Notice to Improve’ may be issued – However, a Notice to Improve will only be used in cases where support is appropriate. They will not be issued in cases of unauthorised leave in term time for holidays, where information for parents is included in schools’ attendance policy and on school’s website, or a warning by the school that a Penalty Notice could be issued if unauthorised leave in term time is taken will suffice.
‘Parents should always apply to the Headteacher for any request for leave in term time by completing a request form available from the school. (DfE guidance states schools should not authorise leave retrospectively so any leave in term time taken without a request being submitted will be unauthorised absence)’.
In developing and publishing the National Framework, the Government renewed appeals to parents not to take their children out of school during term time. The Governors and Headteacher of this school support this initiative. The legislation does not allow for blanket bans, therefore all requests for leave in term time will be considered. However, in line with the Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007, The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, DfE guidance ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance – July 2026, National Framework for Penalty Notices 2024 and local Code of Conduct, students will only be given permission to take leave in term time if there are exceptional circumstances. The DfE Guidance- Working Together to Improve School Attendance (amended July 2026) states that: Generally, the DfE does not consider the need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance. (Paragraph 37.)
Each application for leave in term time will be considered and if it is agreed and authorised the Headteacher will determine the duration of any leave. However, if the application is not agreed and the absence occurs the dates will be unauthorised. Parents will be notified of any decision in writing. This notification may be hand delivered directly to the parent, emailed to the registered email address of the parent held on school records or posted to the parents’ home address.
As a school we are asked to inform you that in line with Telford and Wrekin Council Policy, if your child is absent for 10 school sessions within a 10 week rolling period and that absence is unauthorised, you may be subject to a Penalty Notice fine, criteria is as detailed above.
Please follow the links below for more detailed information:
Working together to improve school attendance: July 2026
The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007
Childrens Commissioner: Back-into-School
Transport
The majority of our students use transport provided by Telford and Wrekin. You will be given a transport request form when your child is offered a place at school. If you have any queries about transport, you can contact the Transport offices directly on 01952 384620.
Secondary aged pupils are entitled to home to school transport if they live three or more miles from Southall.
Transport may be provided for pupils who live nearer than the above distances if they have specific transport needs relating to physical disabilities or significant learning and/or emotional difficulties. Written professional evidence will be required to support such a request (see Telford & Wrekin Council Education Transport Policy).
It is a useful lifelong skill to be able to travel independently and the school will offer to work with our older students to support this by teaching them how to use public transport. This will only be done as appropriate and with the agreement of parents.
If you bring your child to school by car, we ask that you drop your child off outside the school gates at the top of the drive, to avoid congestion with the taxis and minibuses. You are welcome to walk down the drive with your child and to meet them at the school entrance at the end of the day to walk back up.