Attendance & Absence – October 2026

Attendance at Steeple Claydon School has steadily improved since January 2026, and I would like to thank all of our families for their support. We have moved from being below local and national averages to being in line with them – and in some areas, even exceeding them. This is a fantastic achievement and reflects the value our community places on education.

Our current whole-school attendance figure stands at 95.9%, which is something we should all be proud of. However, there is still more we can do. Currently, around 10% of our pupils are classed as persistently absent, meaning their attendance is below 90%.

At this stage of the academic year, persistent absence is often linked to illness, as even a small number of days missed during the autumn term can have a significant impact on a child's attendance percentage. We understand that children will sometimes be unwell and need time to recover. However, if your child is well enough to attend school, we encourage you to send them in, as every day of learning counts.

You can keep up to date with our attendance figures each week through the newsletter, where I will continue to celebrate the classes with the highest attendance. Together, we can ensure that every child has the best possible opportunity to learn, thrive and shine.

Please see the key reminders below to help improve our attendance data:

Children need to arrive at school between 8:35am and 8:45am, ready for 8:45am registration
Children will be marked as ‘late’ if they arrive after 8:45am unless other valid reasons are given e.g. Doctor/Dentist appointments with appointment letter or email from the professional.
Any persistent lateness will be followed up by the school
Children whose attendance falls below 95% and who are causing an attendance concern will be notified by a letter being sent to the parents/careers, then a discussion will be had with the Headteacher to support attendance improvement.
The Government has stated that any holidays in term time cannot be authorised by school, unless in exceptional circumstances.

Sickness and diarrhoea policy

Please could parents remember that in the interests of infection control, children need to be kept away from school for 48 hours after the final episode of vomiting or upset stomach.

Phoning in a child absence

Please phone the school and leave a message as soon as you know that your child will not be attending that day – absences need to be reported before 8:45am at the latest. Phoning the school number and pressing option 1 will take you to our dedicated child absence message box. We would be grateful if parents could leave information about the symptoms their child is experiencing so that we can look for patterns of illness across the school.