Attendance, absence and health
At St. John’s School, our vision: ‘That all may Love, Learn and Flourish’ underpins all we do. Children will flourish best when they are attending school and engaged in exciting learning in a loving educational environment. We believe that in order to facilitate excellent teaching and learning, good attendance is essential. Pupils can only achieve their full potential and flourish if they regularly attend school and participate in all that it has to offer.
We understand that barriers to attendance are complex, and that some pupils may find it harder than others to attend school; therefore, we will continue to prioritise cultivating a safe and supportive environment at school, as well as strong and trusting relationships with pupils and parents.
We take a whole-school approach to securing good attendance, and recognise the impact that our efforts in other areas – such as the curriculum, behaviour standards, bullying, SEND support, pastoral support, and the effective use of resources such as pupil premium – can have on improving pupil attendance.
Parents/carers are expected to:
- Ensure that their child attends every day the school is open except when a statutory reason applies.
- Notify the school as soon as possible when their child has to be unexpectedly absent (e.g. sickness) by calling the school office: 020 8654 2260 (EXT 1) or sending a message via Reach More Parents Weduc before 8.30am on the first day of absence and on all subsequent days of absence. If your child has suffered from vomiting or diarrhoea, the advice from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) is that children should remain at home for 48 hours following their last bout of illness. This is to prevent infection, such as the Norovirus, spreading to others. Click here for more information available via the NHS.
- Only request leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and do so at least 2 weeks in advance. Requests for holidays cannot be authorised. The Weduc form to request ‘Leave from Learning’ can be found within the 'forms' section on the Reach More Parents Weduc App or accessed here.
- Book any medical appointments around the school day where possible. Where a medical appointment must happen during the school day (e.g. a hospital/specialist medical appointment) and your child must attend school before/after the appointment. You will need to complete this same Weduc form mentioned above and upload a screenshot or photograph of the appointment card or invitation.
- Ensure that all emergency contact details are up-to-date and that school is informed of any changes.
The school:
- Has a dedicated senior leader who is Mrs Spink (vspink@st-johns.croydon.sch.uk). She is our Designated Wellbeing Lead and has overall responsibility for championing and improving attendance.
- Ensures accurately completed admission and attendance registers and has daily processes to follow up absence.
- Regularly monitors data to identify patterns of attendance/absence and informs parents/carers if there are concerns.
- Works with identified pupils and their families to understand and address the reasons for persistent absence including any in-school barriers to attendance.
- Signposts and supports access to any required services to alleviate out of school barriers to attendance.
- If absence becomes persistent, the school will put additional targeted support in place to remove any barriers working in partnership with other agencies as necessary.
- Where support is not working or being engaged with, the school will need to work with the local authority to ensure your child is attending school.
Whilst we want all of our children to be in school every day learning the most they can, we realise that everyone can get ill from time to time. If your child is unwell it is important for them to remain at home to rest so that they quickly recover and are able to return to school fighting-fit. Please see the guidance below about when a child should stay away from school.

