Parents of children of compulsory school age (i.e. the term following their 5th birthday), have a legal responsibility to ensure that they attend school regularly and punctually. Our expectation is that all Reception children will attend full-time i.e. from 08.40 until 15.20 pm from the start of the academic year. Our school day runs from 08:40 - 15:20 (KS1) and 09:00 – 15:30 (KS2). This equates to a minimum of 32.5 hours per week. 

There is a legal requirement also for the school to account for all absences. If your child is absent, we need to know why so we ask you to telephone us on 020 8546 7181 (option 1) or email us at attendance@latchmereschool.org before 9.10 am on the first day of absence, unless leave has been requested in advance.

If we do not hear from you we will contact you via our ParentPay messaging system to ask for the reason for absence. The Department for Education is specific on the subject of absences, which are either authorised or unauthorised by the school.

Reasons for authorised absence are:

• religious observance
• medical appointments (with verification, if necessary)
• any absence that is unavoidable can be authorised by the school

For an absence to be authorised, the school has to be satisfied with the parents’ explanation. Except for illness and medical / dental appointments, all absences need to be requested from the school. Children who have appointments and will return later in the day, need to be recorded at the office on exit and entry.

Please click below to see our absence request form:-

At the end of the year, your child's Record of Achievement will display the total number of both authorised and unauthorised absences. Termly attendance reports are sent to parents at the end of each term.

A government directive states that schools are not allowed to authorise absence for holidays during term time; therefore a child’s absence from school for a family holiday will be unauthorised. As yet, we have not imposed a holiday fine on parents but please be aware this may change. We hope you will endeavour to keep any planned absences for your child within the school holidays.