Attendance at School

Good attendance has an enormous impact on the children’s focus and well-being at the start of each day and their progress throughout the year.  We work with our Education Welfare Officer (EWO) to monitor attendance and punctuality and meet regularly to discuss this.  Our EWO comes into school from time to time to meet parents and is always willing to talk to any parents with concerns.  We act swiftly when attendance becomes a concern.

Leave during Term Time

It is Department Policy that pupils should attend school each day, throughout the defined school year, unless they are unwell. Every day a child is in school matters to their learning and progress.  Term time dates are published at least a year in advance on the Education Department website (www.gov.je) to assist with planning holidays.

The Education Department does not, at any time, support leave during term time. However, in exceptional circumstances, Headteachers have the discretionary power to grant leave in accordance with this Policy. 

If you are forced to take your child out of school during term-time, you must request leave of absence by completing an ‘Authorised Absence Request Form’ prior to any booking being made. This can be obtained from the School Office, or downloaded from our website. 

Any absence that is not covered under ‘Exceptional Circumstances’ will not be authorised and will be recorded as ‘unauthorised absence’ and may be followed up by our Education Welfare Officer.  If a child is taken out of school for a period of four weeks or longer, it is likely the place will be lost and on return, parents will have to apply to a school place again, which depending on numbers, may not be at Bel Royal School.

Emergency Closure

On rare occasions, it can be necessary to close the school, perhaps due to heavy snow or another significant event.

In these circumstances, you will be alerted through the local media, www.gov.je website, and our school communication channels. If school is already open at the time of this announcement, we will keep children at school until they can be collected. Teachers will then be in touch via Seesaw, where we will provide remote learning opportunities as necessary.

Sign In/Sign Out

All visitors to the school are required to sign in and sign out at the main entrance and are given a visitor badge to identify them as an authorised visitor. This includes any parents visiting the school. We use a secure electronic sign-in system and there is an iPad in the main entrance which is used for signing in and out of the building.

If your child arrives late to school, you will also need to sign them in on the iPad (as a student) and you will be asked for a reason for their late arrival. If you need to collect your child during school hours, for example for an appointment, you will also need to sign them out on the iPad. We rely on this system in the event of a fire alarm.