Pupils Absent or Late

A parent has a legal responsibility to ensure that their child attends school regularly. If a child is unavoidably absent from school, parents are expected to contact school on the morning of the first day of absence and on each subsequent day, identifying the reason for absence and the expected date of return. If no contact is received, then absence protocols will be instigated.  Absence can be reported as follows:

• Report via the Arbor app
• Call the school office on 01264 810555 and select ‘option 1’
• Email the School Attendance Officer attendance@danebury.hispmat.org

For medical, dental or orthodontic appointments, proof or evidence is required, please email attendance@danebury.hispmat.org or hand in to the school office. 

Lateness and Punctuality

At Danebury, all pupils are expected to arrive on time for every day of the school year. The school day begins at 8:40 am.

We advise all parents to ensure their child is on site prior to this. All pupils arriving after this time are required to report to the school office and provide a reason for their absence.

Parents should also report the absence via Arbor app for lateness.

All pupils arriving after the school register has officially closed will be marked as having an unauthorised absence for the morning session - U code (Late after the close of 9 register). This is categorised as an unauthorised absence for the session. Parents will be contacted to discuss any patterns of late arrival. Repeated arrival after the close of registration will result in appropriate interventions being instigated and may also result in a penalty notice being issued or prosecution.

Procedure for Pupils Leaving Premises

Pupils who need to leave the premises during the day for appointments need to come to the school office to wait.  We would be most grateful for advance notice of the appointment and appointment slips would be appreciated where possible.

Parents also need to come to the school office and sign them out.  We are legally bound to ensure we hand pupils over to a responsible adult during the school day.

Request to authorise absence from school due to exceptional circumstances.

Please view the Attendance and Punctuality policy here. 

Any absence that is not medical or due to illness must be covered by a Leave of Absence Form.

At Danebury School, Leave of Absence in term time will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. We will consider every application individually, but our policy is NOT to grant leave of absence during term-time.  Time off school for family holidays is not considered to be an entitlement.

Hampshire County Council recommends that no holidays are booked until approval from the school has been received.  Leave of Absence applications should be completed on a green request form available from the school office or on the school website.  Forms should be submitted to the school office at least 3 weeks in advance of the requested dates.  Please allow 5 working days for a response.

Please note that following revised Government guidelines in September 2013, a maximum of 5 days of Leave of Absence can be approved, and supporting documentation may be required.

The law requires schools to be open for 190 days each year and every day is important.  This leaves 175 days for holidays.  Please help pupils not to miss any of their valuable time at school.  We publish the dates of school terms well in advance to help you plan your holidays. The ‘Key Dates for Parents’ are sent home during the last summer half-term and are available on the website.

For all pupils' attendance should be over 96% for Leave of Absence to be approved.

If pupils in any year group are taken on leave without school approval, it will be marked as unauthorised absence.

To request a leave of authorised absence can be done in a few ways:

• Completing the Leave of Absence Form, submit it by email to attendance@danebury.hispmat.org. 
• Completing the Leave of Absence Form and hand it to the school office.