Doddinghurst Infant School

Attendance & Punctuality

At Doddinghurst Infant School, we pride ourselves in the knowledge that our children attend school eager and ready to learn. We strive for all our children to feel wanted, supported and safe, while developing and expanding the opportunities available to realise their true potential by receiving a full-time education with limited absence.

The school and staff have an incentivised approach of acknowledgement, through praise and rewards for children who improve and/or maintain their efforts to ensure excellent attendance and punctuality. In accordance with Government guidelines, those parents/carers who present with a low priority to their childens attendance and punctuality, will be challenged accordingly.

Our objectives are to:

• Give parents/carers details on attendance in our newsletters;
• Celebrate excellent attendance by displaying and reporting individual and class achievements;
• Reward good or improving attendance;
• Report to parents/carers regularly on their child’s attendance;
• Contact parents/carers should their child’s attendance fall below the school’s target for attendance.

We set very high standards with regard to attendance. Your child should be in school every day unless he or she is ill. If your child is absent for any reason, please use our Studybugs App or register on the Studybugs website (https://studybugs.com/about/parents) so that on the first day of absence you can securely inform the school and keep the school informed in regards to when they will be returning.

• Holidays during term time cannot be authorised.
• Unexplained absences are always queried.

Attendance Policy 24

Medication
Parents/carers are encouraged to administer medicines around school hours where possible or visit the school at lunchtime to administer the medication themselves. Where this is not possible and school staff are willing, they may administer basic medicines in school e.g. antibiotics or creams; provided that this has been prescribed by a doctor and that a consent form is completed by the parent, together with dosage directions.

All children with specific conditions e.g. Asthma, epilepsy or severe allergies, will have a medical form completed and held in the office, staff-room and in the class file. A visible display of children who require Epi pens is discreetly posted in the staff-room and dining hall. Appropriate medication should be with the child and in classrooms at all times if the assessment within the medical form makes this a recommendation, (e.g. inhalers and Epi-pens); a spare should also be kept in School office.

Named and labelled inhalers and Epi-pens will be kept in a box in the School office and in classrooms for specific children. The dates are checked regularly by the lead first-aider. Training is organised on a regular basis for the use of Epi-pens.

Click on the links below to access policies:

Anaphylaxis Policy

First Aid Policy

Medicine Agreement for Parents

First Aid
We always have qualified First Aid staff on duty to administer treatment to children who have minor accidents. Should anything more serious occur, the relevant medical professionals will be contacted, as well as informing the parent/carer.

Please ensure your emergency contact details are always up to date, at the school office.