How to report my child's absence

All absences, and the reasons for them, have to be recorded. 

We request that parents contact the school by 9am on the first day of absence in one of the following ways:

• call the school on 0208 619 1120 (press option 1 for 'Wood Field', then option 1 for 'Absence'.)

• email absence@woodfieldprimary.com, putting your child’s name and class in the subject box and the reason for the absence in the main message. 

• use the My Child At School app (MCAS) to report your child’s absence

 

Unauthorised Absences

Unauthorised absences are those which the school does not consider reasonable and for which no ‘permission’ is given.  

Whilst any child may be off school because they are ill, sometimes they can be reluctant to attend school.  Any problems with regular attendance are best resolved by working together with the school, the parents and the child.  If a child is reluctant to attend, it is important that parents don’t cover up their absence or to give in to pressure to excuse them from attending.  This gives the impression that attendance does not matter and usually makes things worse.

A Unauthorised absence could be logged for the following reasons: 

• arriving later than 9.15am any school morning

• taking both morning and afternoon sessions for a doctor/dentist appointment (only one session will be Authorised)

• taking a leave of absence or holiday within term time (unless under Exceptional Circumstances) - Click here to see more information on Leave of Absences

• not providing medical evidence of illness when requested (See below for examples of medical evidence)

Accumulating 10 Unauthorised Absences sessions within any 10-week period may result in a referral to the Local Authority for a Penalty Notice fine. 

 

Absence due to illness 

Minor illnesses

We advise that you should still send your child to school if your child presents with the following:

• a minor cough, runny nose or ‘the sniffles’
• a minor headache
• a minor tummy ache
• a general feeling of being under the weather

With all of these presentations, getting into school, being around their friends will more often than not make them feel better and they will not miss valuable learning.
 

Head Lice

Absence for head lice will be Unauthorised. Head lice is not an acceptable reason for school absence. Any absence with this reason will be marked as Unauthorised. We strongly suggest that families keep a head lice treatment as part of their home supplies so that treatment can be administered as soon as it is noticed, ensuring the children do not miss any time in school. We also advise children with longer hair to keep this tied up neatly and tidily, limiting the spread of lice.
 

Vomiting and diarrhoea

It is required that, should your child have diarrhoea or vomiting, that you keep your child off school 48 hours to ensure the tummy bug is not spread to other children. Should this continue past 48 hours we would advise that you speak with your GP for further advice. For absences past these days, we may ask for medical evidence.

Medical Evidence for longer illnesses

Medical Evidence may be requested when absences are longer than 3 days or when a different medical illness is the cause, for example urine infections, tonsillitis, chicken pox, chest or ear infections, to name a few.

Acceptable medical evidence can be one of the following. The school cannot be held liable to pay any costs that may be incurred for obtaining this.

• Medical appointment cards - stamped and dated by the surgery

• A text message from your surgery with your child’s name and the date and time of the

• appointment

• A screenshot of the electronic check-in screen at your surgery with your child’s name and the

• Date and time of the appointment

• A print-out from your GP surgery

• Prescription clearly showing the date that it was prescribed and your child’s name

• A letter from your GP

• A&E discharge letter

• Referral or medical condition confirmation letter

Should this medical evidence be requested by the school but then not provided, we may have no other option to deem the absence as Unauthorised. 

 

Medical and Dental appointments 

We ask that all medical and dentist appointments are taken out of school hours whenever possible. Should this not be possible, one session will only be Authorised for the medical appointment, e.g. the morning or the afternoon. Any other absence that day will be logged as Unauthorised. 

Where longer medical appointments occur, we will require NHS documentation outlining the appointment time.