Attendance

Melbourn Village College is committed to 100 % attendance. However, we recognise there are times when your child cannot attend school - when they are ill or they have an unavoidable appoinrtment. Missing school regularly can severely impact a child's success and to this end we have a number of intervention stages when attendance falls below a certain threshold. Please click here for interventions guidance and percentage threshold information.

There are two types of absence from school: authorised and unauthorised.

Authorised Absences: are those where the student has received authorisation from a teacher or authorised representative of the school or where satisfactory explanations have been received from a parent/carer (e.g. student illness).

Unauthorised Absences: are those where a student is absent from school without the permission of a teacher or representative of the school.

Same Day Absence Notification:

On each day of absence parents or carers should notify the school of the student’s name, form group and reason for absence, by either:

• telephoning Reception on 01763 223400
• emailing a message to absence@melbournvc.org

If a child needs to be absent during the school day, for appointments that cannot be reasonably made outside of school times, the following procedures are required:

• College is informed in advance (email absence@melbournvc.org)
• the student must sign out before leaving the school premises and sign in on return so that the school has a record of them being off site in case of a fire evacuation or other emergency; this must be authorised
• Proof of whereabouts will be requested such as an appointment slip

If the student is absent from school and a notification of absence is not received, the college will record an 'unauthorised absence' against the student.  

If a child feels ill during the school day they should go to reception. Our trained first aiders will assess their level of illness and make a decision about whether to contact parents or carers. Students should not use mobile phones to contact parents directly and ask to be picked up. If a parent or carer receives a call like this, they should tell the child to go to reception.

Planned Absence Notification

The legal position is clear: parents do not have the right to take their child(ren) out of school for holidays during term time. By law you must ask permission for your child to miss school and if you fail to gain the school’s permission and still go away on holiday you will be referred to the County Education Welfare Officer and may risk receiving a £60 penalty notice per parent per child and/or prosecution.

A Headteacher may only grant a leave of absence during term time if there are exceptional circumstances full details of which will be required when the request is made.  If you do seek to withdraw your child(ren) from school during term time please read our guidance note for parents, click here. You must apply using the application form (on the left of this page. All sections of this form must be completed, signed and handed to our Attendance Officer or Reception, not less than two weeks before the absence period requested. Incomplete forms will not be considered. 

The School will consider each request for planned absence on an individual basis taking into account the following factors only after the test of 'exceptional circumstances' have been satisfied: the time of year of the proposed trip, if the dates are close to any exam dates, the student's overall level of attendance and, in particular, whether holiday has already previously been taken during any previous school year.

The exceptional leave request forms are also available from the Attendance Officer in Reception.

Educational Authority Policy

Please click here for the link to the Cambridge County Council Website for current guidance on 'Attendance', 'Non- Attendance and the Law' and 'Term time holidays.'

Please click here for the link to the DfE guidance on School attendance parental responsibility measures: statutory guidance.

Click here to see our Attendance Policy 

The Education Welfare Officer

The Cam Academy Trust employs an Education Welfare Officer, Rachael Panther. The school and EWO always try to work with students and parents at an early stage to resolve problems. This is nearly always successful. However, the EWO also has a legal role and if other ways of resolving attendance have failed, these officers can use legal sanctions such as Penalty Notices or prosecutions in the Magistrates court. Rachael can be contacted via the school reception.

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