Absences
In the interests of safety, parents/carers are requested to contact the school on the first morning of absence, before 9:00 am when the registers are closed, so that absences can be accounted for. If an illness persists, please contact the school each morning. Anyone arriving after 8:50 am will need to be signed in at Reception and this will result in a late mark on the register.
Holidays
Parents/carers are reminded of the importance of not taking their children on holiday during term time, as children will be losing valuable learning opportunities.
In support of the Local Authority and in line with the Corvus Learning Trust, family holidays in term time will not be authorised unless there are exceptional circumstances. In order to ascertain this, it is very important that the absence request form is completed as fully as possible and as early as possible. We may ask for supporting evidence if applicable. Forms are available from the School Office or on our website under Important Forms.
Fixed Penalty Notices may be issued by the Education Welfare Service for unauthorised absences from school. Each application will be considered on its own merit; absence for ‘odd days’ taken in term time is not deemed acceptable and will not be authorised unless there are exceptional circumstances. Please refer to our School Policies section where you will find the Oaklands Schools’ Attendance Policy which outlines the rationale and processes that will be followed.
For more details on how to report an absence please click here.
Pupil Attendance Figures
The DfE requires schools to distinguish between authorised and unauthorised absences, and to publish the following information:
PUPIL ATTENDANCE RECORDS FOR 01 JANUARY 2026 – 05 APRIL 2026
| Number of pupils on attendance roll for at least one session | 246 |
| Number of pupils with at least one absence | 162 |
| % of pupils with at least one absence | 65.85% |
| Total sessions possible for all pupils | 25960 |
| Total sessions missed due to authorised absence for all pupils | 789 |
| Total sessions missed due to unauthorised absence for all pupils | 143 |
| Total sessions missed due to overall (authorised plus unauthorised) absence for all pupils | 932 |
| Authorised absence as a % of total sessions possible | 3.04% |
| Unauthorised absence as a % of total sessions possible | 0.55% |
| Overall (authorised plus unauthorised) absence as % of total sessions possible | 3.59% |
A School Census is carried out three times in an academic school year – October, January and May. National expectations are 95%+ and anything below 90% is considered as a persistent absentee. At Oaklands Junior School, we expect attendance to not fall below 97% unless there are very exceptional circumstances.