School Holidays
Holiday List
Holidays in Term Time
As you will be aware, the Government is putting increasing pressure on schools to improve attendance and eliminate the amount of holidays taken during term time. We understand circumstances and the cost of holidays can affect your decisions. However, it is vital your child attends school every day, if possible, in order to achieve their potential. The Governors at St Stephen's decided not to authorise absences for holidays taken during term time. Therefore if you choose to request a holiday for your child in term time, you will need to complete the Absence Request Form below and be aware that this will result in an unauthorised absence against your child's attendance record. If your child is absent from school for 10 sessions (5 days) or more and the absence is unauthorised, you will receive a Penalty Notice from the Local Authority. A Penalty Notice is currently £60, rising to £120 if unpaid after 21 days. Failure to pay will normally lead to prosecution.
Attendance - Our Traffic Light System
We are continually trying to improve pupil attendance to ensure all pupils are able to take advantage of the learning experiences available to them. With this in mind, we have introduced ‘The Traffic Light Initiative’. Every term all parents will receive a letter informing them which traffic light zone their child falls into and their attendance record. Green Zone indicates your child has achieved between 95% - 100% attendance for the term. Amber Zone indicates attendance between 85% - 94% and Red Zone indicates attendance of below 84%. In addition we will report class attendance levels in the weekly newsletter and reward children termly with badges for 100% attendance. Children who reach 100% attendance for the full academic year will receive a gift voucher in recognition of their achievement.
School registers are marked at the start of the morning and afternoon sessions. The school doors open to receive children at 8.40 a.m., the school day begins at 8.55 a.m. To encourage punctuality we are required to mark, as late, those who arrive after 8.55 a.m. Parents are requested to inform the school by telephone on the first day as to the reason for a child being absent. Alternatively, parents can complete the Absence Notification link on the website. If we do not know the reason for absence we have to classify this as unauthorised.
