Attendance Team

If you have any questions at all about your child’s attendance, here is who you can ask:

• Miss Coles (Attendance Lead) – Miss Coles is one of the staff members who may call you if your child is absent. You can talk to Miss Coles about why your child was late or absent and you can bring any medical evidence to her. She will invite you to meetings about attendance and you could ask to speak to her if you have important information about your child’s attendance. Miss Coles mostly works with families where the children are persistently absent (attendance less than 90%) because this is very serious. Miss Coles also does assemblies and rewards for really good/most improved attendance.
• Office Staff – These are the staff you will speak to first if you phone the school about absence. You can explain to them the reasons for your child’s absence or lateness and they will note it down. They may ask you questions to be really clear they are putting down the right thing. The office have forms and leaflets to do with attendance.
• Mr Wood– If you want to request a holiday during term time or special leave then you must write to Mr Wood. He is the only person who can allow families to miss any school for this reason. Please remember the policy of the school, the local authority, the Trust and the Government is to say no to holidays during term time.
• Education Welfare Officer (EWO)– We work very closely with the EWO from Essex county council. She supports Miss Coles by taking on the cases where pupil attendance is extremely low – less than 90%. The EWO is the person who works with the school to issue fixed penalty notices where they are required, and to prepare cases for court.