Any absence from school must be explained by a note or telephone call to the school office.

Office staff make use of Groupcall (a system that will send a text message to parents) when a child is absent and there has been no explanation.  Please ensure you call the school office/reply to the text promptly to explain any absence.  Children who do not arrive in school are automatically treated as ‘‘missing’’ if there has been no communication from home. This can lead to us contacting other agencies including the Police to support us in locating the child if we cannot contact you.

Where there are frequent absences, or where there is an obvious pattern of absence, the matter may be referred to the Local Authority. The Home/School Liaison Officer is kept fully informed about each absentee and maintains a close liaison with parents. If the Home/School Liaison Officer is unable to make contact with parents of children who are not in school and where the Head Teacher has not been provided with a reasonable reason for non-attendance, the Head Teacher will inform the police in order to ensure the safety of children.

Pupils taking time off from school to accompany their parents on holiday is not a legal right in Scotland. Schools now have a statutory requirement to record the attendance rates and the number of authorised and unauthorised absence of pupils for all stages. Absences due to family holidays will be recorded as unauthorised.  Only under exceptional circumstances will holidays outwith the set dates be considered authorised and individual cases should be discussed with the Head Teacher.

Infection prevention guidance from NHS Scotland requires that children who have been suffering from vomiting or diarrhoea remain absent from school for 48 hours after their symptoms have ceased. 

Medical/Dental Appointments

Any pupil leaving school during the school day must have the Head Teacher‘s permission and be collected from and returned to the school office by a responsible adult who must sign the pupil out and sign them back in on return.

Parents/carers are asked to make every effort to make medical/dental appointments outwith school hours.