Term dates 2025-2026

Attendance

Punctuality Matters

Start of the Day:

• Gates open: 8:40 AM
• Gates close: 8:50 AM
  Children arriving after 8:50 AM must be brought to the main office to sign in and will receive a late mark.

Appointments:

• Please inform the school office before any appointments so we can update the register.
• The school may request proof of the appointment if needed.
• We encourage appointments to be made outside of school hours to avoid lost learning.

End of the Day:

• School finishes at 3:20 PM.
• Children should be collected from the playground. Gates open at 3:00 PM and close at 3:30 PM.
• After 3:30 PM, children must be collected from the school office.
• If someone different is collecting your child, please inform the school in advance.

Why Every Minute Counts: Being just 5 minutes late each day can add up to over 3 days of lost learning across the school year.  Every minute in school supports your child’s learning and development.

We want all school children at Fulwood and Cadley to get the most out of their education and attending school regularly is an important part of your child's education.  We are here to support you if your child has any problems attending school, whatever the reason may be.

We encourage good attendance. For example, 100% certificates are awarded to children who have had no absences during the entire year – many children become proud of their excellent attendance record.

However, children who are too ill to come to school or may pass infection to others should not attend.

** When children are absent from school we ask parents to inform the school office by 9.00am on the first day of absence with an explanation for their absence.  This can be done by leaving a message on the school absence line (01772 717087) or via the school app.

We contact parents if we feel their children are too ill to stay at school.

This is the advice from the Department for Education:

"Central to raising standards in education and ensuring all pupils can fulfil their potential is an assumption so widely understood that it is insufficiently stated – pupils need to attend school regularly to benefit from their education. Missing out on lessons leaves children vulnerable to falling behind. Children with poor attendance tend to achieve less in both primary and secondary school."

The government expects:

Schools and local authorities to:

• Promote good attendance and reduce absence, including persistent absence;
• Ensure every pupil has access to full-time education to which they are entitled; and,
• act early to address patterns of absence.
• Parents to perform their legal duty by ensuring their children of compulsory school age who are registered at school attend regularly.
• All pupils to be punctual to their lessons.

Term-time holidays

Can a parent take their child on holiday during term time?

"Head teachers should only authorise leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. If a head teacher grants a leave request, it will be for the head teacher to determine the length of time that the child can be away from school. Leave is unlikely, however, to be granted for the purposes of a family holiday as a norm."

Penalty Notices

The school have the right to issue penalty notices to families of pupils with poor attendance or for taking unauthorised leave in term time.  To look at the guidance on penalty notices see the following link:

Lancashire council - School attendance - pay an education penalty notice