Attendance & Medical
Marden-Lodge-Attendance-Policy-2025-26.pdf
Regular attendance is a fundamental pillar of education. It plays a pivotal role in shaping academic success, personal growth, and prospects.
Here at Marden Lodge, we are committed to transforming educational achievement and providing pupils with the best start in life academically and as citizens. We promote the importance of pupils attending school on every day possible and recognise that daily attendance is crucial to success.
It is the responsibility of all stakeholders across our school community – parents/carers, staff, governors, and pupils – to work together to ensure that every pupil and their family has the support and strategies required to attend school daily.
Punctuality
Pupils are expected to arrive at school for 8.40am (gates open at 8.30am) to be in class ready to learn from 8.50am, when morning registers are then taken.
Breakfast club finishes at 8.40am and school gates close at 8.50am.
Please note that if a pupil arrives after 8.50am, they must sign-in via the school office.
Pupils arriving after 8.50am will be marked as late. If a pupil arrives at 9.20am or later, after the close of all registers, the sign-in code will constitute as an absence and negatively impact a pupil’s attendance record.
Arriving at school late is disruptive to a pupil’s daily routine and means that they miss a considerable amount of valuable learning time.
|
Minutes late per day |
Lost learning time |
|
5 minutes |
3.4 school days per year |
|
10 minutes |
6.9 school days per year |
|
15 minutes |
10.3 school days per year |
|
20 minutes |
13.8 school days per year |
|
30 minutes |
20.7 school days per year |
Reporting an absence
Parents and carers are expected to communicate with school promptly to inform if their child is going to be absent due to illness or other reasons and maintain daily contact during the period of absence.
Absences must be reported by contacting the school office on tel:01883343014 or email:info@marden-lodge.surrey.sch.uk at the earliest opportunity.
Absences from school can have a direct impact upon a child’s academic and social development due to lost learning time. We recognise that in our busy lives, it can become easy to lose track of the number of days that a child is absent over the school year, however daily attendance is vital to ensure that all children have the best opportunities to flourish and succeed.
|
Attendance during one school year |
Number of lost learning days |
|
95% |
9 days |
|
90% |
19 days |
|
85% |
29 days |
|
80% |
38 days |
Safeguarding children
Home visits are conducted as a standard protocol to families to follow-up on pupil absences and provide support to pupils and parents/carers where appropriate.
The school has a duty to safeguard the welfare of all students. Any concerns about a child’s attendance will be investigated promptly to ensure support for their wellbeing.
If there are unexplained/prolonged periods of absence or an identified safeguarding concern, this may require school to contact external agencies.
Leave during term time
Parents and carers must request any planned leave of absence for exceptional circumstances in writing prior to the intended absence of their child. Requests will be reviewed, and a decision made as to whether the absence will be authorised or unauthorised. Leave of absence forms can be collected and returned to the school office.
In line with Department for Education (2024) regulations, holidays or absences for leisure and recreation would not constitute as exceptional circumstances.
As per the National Framework for Penalty Notices (2024), parents and carers may be issued with a fixed penalty notice or legal sanction if a pupil is absent due to unauthorised leave during term time.
Attendance support
Parents and carers are invited to contact the school if they wish to discuss their child’s attendance further or seek additional support at any time.
The attendance team is Sarah Rumbol (Head), Beth Elliott and Emma Dilley (office admin), Clare Garratt and Tara Copard (FSWs).
Our school Senior Leader and Champion for Attendance is: Sarah Rumbol
Please contact us 01883343014 to initially speak with a member of our team or email: info@marden-lodge.surrey.sch.uk
Attendance recognition
Our approach promotes recognition of personal and collective achievements, fostering positive environments and developing intrinsic motivation. Recognition may be in the form of verbal conversations; celebrations; postcards; or text message communication.
Through our rich curriculum offer, we strive to instil values within our pupils which support them to become successful citizens of the future and promote that school attendance is a key component to this success.
Medicine
If your child requires medicine to be administered during the school day, including self-administered medication such as inhalers, a form must be completed to accompany the medicine. All medicine must be clearly named and given into the school office by the parent or carer. These forms can be downloaded from the school website or requested from the school office. We will ask that medical forms for pre-existing medical conditions are renewed at the start of each new academic year.
