Attendance

Regular school attendance is vital for your child to be successful.  School not only helps with academic learning but also supports your child's social and emotional development.  To benefit from the many opportunities and great teaching at Ongar Primary, your child needs to be here every day that they possibly can.  Our minimum expectation is 96%  We monitor all attendance and will regularly inform you of your child's attendance figures.  If your child's attendance is causing us a concern we will invite you in to work together to find ways to improve this. 

Frequent Questions

Is my child too ill for school? Essex County Council and NHS have produced this useful guidance on whether to send your child into school.  If you are unsure call our school office for further advice 01277 362354

Can I take my child to the doctor or dentist during school time? 

We ask that you try to make appointments out of school hours whenever possible. Please let us know, in advance, of any appointments during school time. We will ask to see a copy of the letter or appointment card/text to be able to authorise your child’s absence.

Can I take my child on holiday in school time?

If you are planning a holiday, please fill in the ‘Request for Leave form (available on the school website or from the office).  As a general rule, we will not authorise requests for term-time holidays and a holiday of more than 3 days (6 sessions) may trigger a Penalty Notice Referral (please see the Attendance Policy for further details). A second term-time holiday may lead to legal action being taken, including further fines

What should I do if my child is ill?

Please let us know as soon as possible. You can do this by:

• Ringing the school office: 01277 362354 and either speaking to a member of staff or leaving a message on the answerphone (option 1).
• Speaking to one of the office staff.
• Sending in a written note on the day.
• Sending an email to admin@ongar-pri.essex.sch.uk. 

If we have not received a reason for your child’s absence by 09.00, we will contact you by telephone or email. All absences of more than 3 days will require you to provide medical evidence.

If we become concerned about the number of days your child misses due to illness, we may ask that you provide evidence of a medical appointment before we will authorise any absence – this can either be an appointment card/text or a prescription label (for instance on a prescribed medicine).  Further information is available in our attendance policy.