Every day in school matters.

Regular attendance helps students make progress, build friendships, develop confidence and make the most of everything Norwood has to offer. We want to work in partnership with families to support excellent attendance and punctuality — and to help when difficulties arise.

Reporting an Absence

If your child is unable to attend school, please let us know before 8.20am on the first day of absence.

Parents and carers should contact the school absence line on 0208 670 9382 ext. 223, giving their child’s name, year group and the reason for their absence, or report absence via email to: attendance@thenorwoodschool.org

If we have not heard from you, the school will contact you on the first day of absence to confirm that your child is safe and establish the reason for their absence.

Where possible, medical and dental appointments should be arranged outside school hours. If an appointment during the school day is unavoidable, please provide the school with evidence of the appointment.

If your child’s absence continues, or you are experiencing difficulties that are affecting their attendance, please keep in contact with us. We want to work with families to understand any barriers to attendance and provide appropriate support.

Is My Child Too Ill for School?

It isn't always easy to know whether your child is well enough to attend school. This short video offers practical guidance for parents and carers.

 

Why Attendance Matters

Every day in school matters. Regular attendance gives students the best opportunity to learn, make progress and get the most from their time at The Norwood School.

Being in school regularly helps students to:

• keep up with their learning and make strong academic progress

• develop positive routines and good habits

• maintain friendships and feel part of the school community

• take part fully in lessons, activities and wider school opportunities

• build the knowledge, skills and confidence they need for their next steps.

Even relatively small amounts of absence can add up over the course of a school year. We therefore encourage all students to attend school every day unless there is a genuine reason why they cannot.

Punctuality

Arriving at school on time helps students start the day positively, prepared and ready to learn. Being late can mean missing important information and learning, as well as disrupting lessons for both the student and others.

Students should arrive at school by 8.25am.

Registration / Form Time begins at 8.40am.

Students arriving after 8.40am will be recorded as late. The morning register closes at 9.00am, and students arriving after this time will be recorded as an unauthorised late arrival.

We ask parents and carers to support their child in developing good routines and arriving at school on time every day. If there is an ongoing issue affecting your child’s punctuality, please contact us so that we can work with you to help.

If Attendance Becomes a Concern

We understand that there can be many reasons why a young person may find it difficult to attend school regularly. If you are concerned about your child’s attendance, or there are circumstances making it difficult for them to come to school, please talk to us as early as possible.

We will work with you and your child to understand what is affecting their attendance and identify appropriate support. This may involve your child’s pastoral team, the school’s attendance team or, where appropriate, support from other services.

We monitor attendance carefully and will contact families when a student’s attendance begins to cause concern. Our aim is to work together to address difficulties early and help students return to regular attendance.

If you are worried about your child’s attendance, please contact us: attendance@thenorwoodschool.org 

Authorised and Unauthorised Absence

All absences from school are recorded as either authorised or unauthorised. Parents and carers should always let us know the reason for their child’s absence.

Authorised Absence

An absence may be authorised where there is a valid reason for a student to be away from school. This may include:

• illness

• medical or dental appointments that cannot reasonably be arranged outside school hours

• emergencies or other unavoidable circumstances

• religious observance

• other exceptional circumstances agreed by the school.

Where appropriate, we may ask parents and carers to provide supporting information or evidence.

Unauthorised Absence

An absence will be recorded as unauthorised when the school has not agreed the absence or does not consider that there is a valid reason for the student to be away from school.

This can include:

• absence where no reason has been provided

• keeping a child off school unnecessarily

• truancy

• arriving after the register has closed without an authorised reason

• holidays or other leave taken during term time without permission.

Leave During Term Time

Parents and carers should not normally take their child out of school during term time. Any request for leave must be made to the school in advance and can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.

Unauthorised absence may result in further action being taken by the school or Local Authority.

Penalty Notices

We want to work with families to improve attendance and will offer support where this is appropriate. However, where a child has unauthorised absences from school, parents and carers should be aware that a Penalty Notice may be issued.

Under the national framework, schools must consider whether a Penalty Notice is appropriate when a child has 10 sessions of unauthorised absence within a rolling period of 10 school weeks. Ten sessions are equivalent to five school days. The absences do not have to be consecutive and can include different types of unauthorised absence, including unauthorised term-time leave and arriving after the register has closed.

For a first Penalty Notice, the fine is £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days, increasing to £160 if paid within 28 days.

If a second Penalty Notice is issued to the same parent for the same child within three years, the fine is £160, payable within 28 days.

A maximum of two Penalty Notices can be issued to the same parent for the same child within a three-year period. If the threshold is met again within that period, other action, including prosecution, may be considered.

We strongly encourage parents and carers to contact us at an early stage if there are difficulties affecting their child’s attendance, so that we can work together to address them.

For full information about attendance procedures, please see our Attendance Policy.