Absence, sickness and lateness

Why attendance and punctuality matter to us

Alamiyah Montessori is committed to supporting children to become lifelong learners and to build good habits for life. We consider that if children are to benefit from their time at Alamiyah and to build lifelong habits, good attendance and punctuality are crucial.

We will promote and encourage high levels of attendance for all children at the Preschool. We believe that parents have a very important role to play and that there is a need to establish strong communication systems and home to Preschool links so that whenever there is concern about attendance it can be addressed promptly.

Persistent lateness

Persistent lateness can be as damaging as persistent absence. Lateness disrupts not only the child's learning but also the learning of others. Persistent lateness contravenes the parent partnership agreement and parents will be invited to the setting for a meeting for persistent lateness in order to put a plan in place to ensure that their child arrives prior to the start of registration.

Telling us about an absence

Parents are requested to help us to manage the safety of their children by:

• informing the setting prior to any absence (e.g., doctor's appointment)

• informing the setting prior to registration on the first day of any unforeseen absence

• providing a return date for the absent child (if known)

• informing the setting daily of the reason for absence if no return date is known.

Sickness or planned absences

If your child is absent due to sickness, injury or any unforeseen circumstance, please call or email the setting and inform the staff of the reasons for the absence at the earliest opportunity before the start of the day. Any calls must be followed up with an email at [email protected].

Please notify the setting of any periods of planned absence during the published session dates in the form of an email on [email protected]. When possible, the setting should be notified in advance and in writing.

Holidays taken during the published session dates

The Preschool encourages holidays to be taken outside the published session dates so that children have consistent and regular attendance which helps them to build good routines and habits. Consistent routines are important to the settlement and healthy development of young children and therefore holidays should be avoided during the published session dates.

Poor or irregular attendance is followed up by the Preschool in order to support families who may be struggling. This is to ensure that support is offered to help families to raise the child's attendance and outcomes.

Home educated children

Attendance patterns will vary for Home Educated children since parents may take time off for their children to attend trips or other home education activities. Please do let the centre know in advance of a booked session, if your child will not be attending so that we know when to expect them for planning purposes.

Who to speak to

The setting's Admissions and Attendance Officer is Ms Hannaa Abou-Taleb.

What you undertake in the parent contract

Early Years Parent Partnership Contract: To ensure that all absences and lateness are authorised by providing advance notice in writing (via email or letter) prior to the start of the session for each instance of absence or lateness. To maintain high levels of attendance aiming for 95% attendance, to ensure continuity in your child's learning and to build good habits for life. To ensure that your child maintains a high punctuality rate (unless there are extenuating circumstances), since lateness disrupts the learning of your child and that of others.

Home Education Centre Parent Contract: To ensure that all absences are communicated in advance in writing (via email or letter) prior to the start of the session for each instance of absence so that we are aware of who will be attending daily.

When a child should stay at home

Children should remain at home if they have an infection, and the setting should be informed about the type of infection so that other parents can be informed if necessary.

Staff will closely observe any child who appears to be unwell, if symptoms persist or worsen, staff will contact the parent.

If your child has fever, guidance from a GP should be sought with respect to the number of days that your child should stay at home since this will vary depending on the nature of the illness and the severity. The setting should be informed of the illness since it has a duty to notify the Health Protection Unit (HPU) about any notifiable illness.

Sickness and diarrhoea

Parents must not bring in any child who has diarrhoea or has been vomiting until 48 hours after the last episode.

Chickenpox and measles

If a child is suspected to have chickenpox or measles the parents will be notified immediately for collection of the child. The child will only be admitted back into the setting at least five days after the onset of the rash in the case of chickenpox, and at least four days after the onset of the rash in the case of measles. All other parents will be notified, given instructions about common signs and symptoms and what to do in this circumstance.

Returning after a short course of medication

If a child is on prescribed medication for a short time, the child must complete their course of medication at home before returning back to the setting. It will be at the discretion of the setting to authorise the attendance of any child taking short term medication which must be administered during a session.

Head lice

If head lice are found on a child, they should be kept at home and treated. The setting should be notified immediately so that we can alert other parents to check their children to stop them spreading. Once the child has been treated, they may return.

If a child is found to have head lice whilst at the setting, parents or carers will be contacted to collect their children as soon as possible to start treatment and stop the lice spreading.