The staff at STM are committed, in partnership with the parents/carers, children School Standards Committee and the Local Authority, to building a school which serves the community and of which the community is proud.

Regular attendance means that your child has a better chance in life. Your child will achieve better when they go to school all day, every day as: they learn better; they make friends; they are happier; they have a brighter future.

Saint Thomas More firmly believes that all children benefit from regular school attendance. We have worked hard, through adverse times, to improve attendance and we are now about National. Full and regular attendance at school is crucial for a child's future life chances and establishes a positive work ethic early in life. To this end, we will do all we can to encourage parents/carers to ensure their children achieve maximum possible attendance and that any problems that prevent full attendance are identified and acted on promptly.

Pupils are expected to achieve 100% attendance, but when absence is unavoidable, parents/carer will be required to inform the school at the earliest opportunity by calling the school before 9am. Please call daily if your child is off or more than one day and seek medical attention if the illness lasts longer than 48 hours. Parental illness is not an excuse for children to not attend school.

If your child has a medical appointment, please give a copy of the appointment letter or card to the office staff who will notify the class teacher and a photocopy of the document will be taken. If we do not receive this, your child's absence will be recorded as unauthorised.

If your child is absent and you do not inform us, a member from the pastoral team will visit you home to ask you why your child is absent from school. If you are not present, a letter will be left, requesting that you contact school to inform us why your child is absent. If we do not hear from you, we will be concerned and may refer you to Children's Services.

If your child's level of absence is a concern, we will offer advice and support. After this and if there is not improvement, any unauthorised absence may result in the school and the Local Authority taking legal action using Fast Track monitoring which is an Early Help approach to improve attendance. The law and therefore the school, treats persistent lateness in the same way as irregular attendance and parents may be prosecuted by the Local Authority if late arrival is not resolved. Lateness leads to missed learning, bad habits and feeling embarrassed.

Mr McLoughlin may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Unauthorised absence of this nature will be subject to a fine. Please speak with Mr McLoughlin before any bookings.

We have clear procedures that we follow if your child is not collected. Please see our late collection policy. This may result in a fine being imposed. If your child is not collected after 45 minutes, we are obliged to report the matter to CASS.

We believe that in order to facilitate teaching and learning, good attendance is essential. Pupils cannot achieve their full potential if they do not regularly attend school. Every day counts!