Attendance
The Education Act 1996 states that all students should attend school regularly and punctually. We have a legal obligation to record if any student is late or absent.
Children with good attendance are in school for at least 95% of the time.
Please phone on the first day of absence or give the bus escort a message where appropriate. If we do not hear from parent/carers why your child is absent from school we will phone you. We do need a written explanation on your child’s return to school. If we do not receive an explanation, or if the explanation is unsatisfactory, we will not authorise the absence.
Absences from school
If a child is absent from school, this can be authorised or unauthorised.
A school will authorise an absence if:
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the child is too unwell to attend and the school accepts this as valid
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the parent has got the advance permission of the school e.g. for a holiday, religious observation;
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the child has a medical or dental appointment;
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the child has been granted study leave
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the child is being educated off-site: through a special arrangement as part of their provision agreed during Annual Review of their EHCP.
Schools also have a safeguarding duty, under section 175 Education Act 2002, to investigate any unexplained absences.
Holidays in term time
Head teachers can only authorise leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. If a Headteacher grants a leave request, they will determine the length of time that the child can be away from school. Leave is unlikely, however, in some exceptional circumstances leave will be granted.
Requests for leave should be made in writing.
School based anxiety
If your child is unable to come to school due to anxiety please contact us. Your child could be avoiding school for a number of reasons. It is important that we identify the reason for your child’s reluctance and that we work together to support their regular attendance. We are aware that many pupils attending our school have sadly experienced periods of non attendance in previous school settings. We are willing to work with each pupil and families to support attendance.
School based anxiety is real, our pupil population are particularly vulnerable to anxiety linked to attending school. An analysis showed of the 20,000 autistic children persistently absent from state secondary schools, 4 out of 5 have experienced additional poor mental health (source: Ambitious About Autism 2024). Staff at The Windmill School have undertaken significant training to understand autism so we support pupils to attend school by making adjustments and offering transactional supports. We endeavour to offer flexibility and compassion to all our families through any period of absence related to poor mental health.
Extended periods of absence and any concerns we have relating to your child are discussed with our link ASTO ( Attendance Officer) for Barnet.