Attendance
The school is required by Law to provide the DfE with figures regarding attendance. All attendance records are monitored by the school and by the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO).
If your child is absent for any reason, please contact the school by 8.00am as follows:
Call the School Office - 020 8450 6757 and leave a message on our dedicated attendance line
Send an email to: helpdesk@ologinfants.brent.sch.uk
Send a message via the School App
If your child's absence is likely to be ongoing, please contact the school to keep us informed. Children should not return to school until they are fit.
All children are expected to go out to play on fine days. If they are not well enough to do so they should remain at home.
Failure to explain a child’s absence will be classed as an Unauthorised Absence that must then be included in the returns to the Government. Unexplained absences could lead to a visit by the EWO. Similarly, all children are expected to arrive at school on time. If your child is late, i.e. after 8.30 am, you must sign the late book giving a reason for the lateness and you will also receive a letter from the school. If any further lateness occurs, you will be asked to meet with the Deputy Headteacher. If lateness continues, this will be reported to the EWO.
In order to keep you informed regarding your child’s attendance, a letter will be sent to you if your child’s attendance falls below the National Average (currently 96.5%) in any term, irrespective of the reason for this. We have an expectation that once we have notified a parent about our concerns, they will ensure that their child’s attendance improves significantly. Attendance below 90% is classed by the DfE as persistent absenteeism. If your child’s attendance falls below 90%, you will be invited to meet with the Deputy Headteacher. If a pupil continues to have poor attendance, we will discuss this with our link Education Welfare Officer and if necessary make a referral to Brent Education Welfare Service.
The Education Welfare Service may issue a parent with a Formal Warning, an Education Penalty Notice (EPN) or decide to prosecute if a child is persistently absent with 10% or above unauthorised absence over a 16 week period. If a parent is issued with an EPN, they risk receiving a fine from Brent Council of £120 if paid within 28 days. This is reduced to £60 if paid within 21 days. Fines for unauthorised term time leave are issued to each parent for each absent child
For your information, a child with attendance below 80% is missing on average 1 day of school every week which equates to approximately 7 weeks – or an entire half-term. If your child’s attendance falls below 85%, he/she will be regarded as a persistent absentee.
A child with attendance below 90% is missing on average 1 day of school every two weeks. A child with attendance below 95% is missing on average half a day of school every two weeks.
For those children who attend school every day in any half term, an attendance certificate will be awarded at the end of each term.
Holidays during school time are banned. The school is closed for 14 weeks of the year and parents are expected to use this time for taking holidays and visiting family. The Headteacher may, in exceptional circumstances, authorise a request for leave of absence. Such requests should be kept to an absolute minimum and the appropriate form is available from the school office. When you have completed the form, an appointment will be made for you to meet with the Deputy Headteacher / Headteacher.
Please click here for our Attendance and Punctuality Policy.
