Parent Information

Attendance: Every Day Counts!

Attendance

We believe that to facilitate teaching and learning, good attendance is essential. Pupils cannot achieve their full potential if they do not regularly attend school.  Children with the highest attendance rates will often enjoy school more and achieve better in school and as an adult in the workplace.

We understand that barriers to attendance are complex, and that some pupils find it harder than others to attend school; therefore, we prioritise cultivating a safe and supportive environment at school, as well as strong and trusting relationships with pupils and parents.

We take a whole-school approach to securing good attendance and recognise the impact that our efforts in other areas – such as the curriculum, behaviour standards, bullying, SEND support, pastoral support, and the effective use of resources such as pupil premium – can have on improving pupil attendance.

We are committed to:

• Promoting and modelling high attendance and its benefits.

• Ensuring equality and fairness for all.

• Ensuring this attendance policy is clear and easily understood by staff, pupils and parents.

• Intervening early and working with other agencies to ensure the health and safety of our pupils.

• Building strong relationships with families to overcome barriers to attendance.

• Working collaboratively with other schools in the area, as well as other agencies.

• Ensuring parents follow the framework set in section 7 of the Education Act 1996, which states that the parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause them to receive efficient
  full-time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, and to any SEND they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

• Ensuring our attendance policy is clear and easily understood by all staff, parents and pupils.

• Regularly monitoring and analysing attendance and absence data to identify pupils or cohorts that require more support.

Late arrivals

Children need a good start to the school day to enable them to settle into class and to be ready to learn as soon as registration has been completed.  It is disruptive for both your child and their classmates if they arrive late, valuable learning takes place as soon as the children enter their classrooms.  Please ensure that your child arrives at school in time for registration to minimise any disruption to learning.

Missing 10 minutes each day might not seem like much but it equates to losing over 6 school days over a year!

If you are struggling with morning arrival, please talk to us; we will work with you to find out what the barriers are and consider how we might be able to help. We will work with families and children that require additional support and flexibility for arrival times to ensure a sucessful transition between home and school.

Holidays and Special Leave of Absence

There are only 190 statutory school days in a year, leaving 175 days, including weekends and holidays, which are available for you to use for holidays.

The link below takes you to an overview of school attendance and absence from the Government with advice around holidays

School Attendance & Absence (gov.uk)

In certain circumstances, we understand that there might be the need for you to consider a Special Leave of Absence for your child.

Please visit More Information and Leave of Absence Form for further details.

Informing School

If your child is unwell, has a medical or other appointment, please report their absence by contacting the school office in person, by telephone or via email before 8:45am.

Parents/Carers will be expected to provide an explanation for the absence and an estimation of how long the absence will last, e.g. one school day. It is expected that parents/carers will contact the school on every day of their child’s absence.

When communicating with the school office, please include your Child’s name, class and the details of the absence.

Where a pupil is absent, and their parent/carer has not contacted the school by the close of the morning register to report the absence, administrative staff will contact the parent/carer by telephone call as soon as is practicable on the first day that they do not attend school. The administrative staff may also contact the other emergency contact details listed on the school’s MIS system.

The school will not request medical evidence in most circumstances where a pupil is absent due to illness; however, the school reserves the right to request supporting evidence where there is genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness. If the school is not satisfied about the authenticity of the illness, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised, and parents/carers will be notified of this in advance and home visits may also be made.

The school will always follow up any absences in order to:

• Ascertain the reason for the absence.

• Ensure the proper safeguarding action is being taken.

• Identify whether the absence is authorised or not.

• Identify the correct code to use to enter the data onto the school MIS system.

Safe and Well Check

In some circumstances, the school’s NAP may visit the pupil’s home to conduct a safe and well check on the pupil;  these visits may be carried out whether the parent/carer has called to inform the school of the pupil’s absence or not.  These visits are intended to support both the pupil and their family and are just one of the ways in which we ensure that the school and those attending it know and feel that they are part of a community.  They may be carried out more than once during a pupil’s absence if it is ongoing and may or may not be announced due to the busy nature of a school day.

Term dates for the 2025-2026 Academic Year are detailed in the following document.

TTPFS Term Dates 2025 2026

School Uniform

Children attending Thomas Telford Primary Free School should wear the school uniform detailed below.

We request that all children wear the following school logo items: school jumper/cardigan; school polo shirt; school PE t-shirt (on PE days).  All other uniform items can be sourced from generic suppliers.  Please note that the school branded long sleeve PE tops and PE shorts/joggers are optional items; children can wear a plain grey hoodie and plain grey shorts/joggers as an alternative.

Parents can purchase school uniform items from Baker and Son Schoolwear by visiting www.bakerandsonschoolwear.co.uk

They will be stocking Thomas Telford Primary Free School uniform from the end of June 2025.  If you have any order-related enquiries, please make direct contact with Baker and Son Schoolwear on 01952 641897.

Additional items such as book bags and drawstring bags are also available.

All other items can be purchased from suppliers of your choice.

Once we have opened in September 2025 we will set up a ‘Uniform Recycling Swap Shop’; we are keen to create an opportunity for our community to recycle school uniform that no longer fits.

Additional PE Information:

Children will not be able to participate in PE without the correct PE kit. In accordance with Health and Safety Regulations, we request that children do not wear earrings or any jewellery for PE lessons. If your child is unable to remove their earrings by themselves, please ensure that they do not wear earrings to school on the days that they have PE.  If your child has newly pierced ears, please supply micro-pore tape for them to keep in their bag, so that they can cover their earrings during PE. This is to prevent any accidents occurring which could cause considerable discomfort to your child and we would ask for your co-operation in this matter. If earrings are worn to school, only small studs are appropriate. All earrings need to be removed for swimming.

This section of the website is currently under development, please check back soon.