Absence and Sickness

If your son/daughter is too ill to attend school, please contact the school on 01434 610354 (voicemail is available for out of hours calls). When calling, please provide as much information as possible, including the pupil’s full name, the nature of the illness, and the name of the person calling. Please remember that the school is responsible for authorising the absence, not parents/carers, so there may be follow up calls from school staff.

Please provide a note when your son/daughter returns to school. This should be given to their form teacher.

We aim to contact all parents of pupils on the first day of absence if no contact has been made.

Please try to make appointments for the dentist and doctor outside of school hours.

For any queries relating to attendance, please email attendance@qehs.net

Arrangements in case of accidents or sickness

A pupil involved in an accident or feeling unwell will be dealt with by a member of staff with appropriate training. The school will deal with minor complaints, but if necessary, pupils will be referred to Hexham General Hospital. Parents/carers will be contacted as soon as possible should the child need further treatment or need to be returned home. It is therefore essential that we have up to date contact numbers. We will make every effort to act as caring parents in these matters. Should there be any doubt as to the seriousness of any complaint we will err on the side of caution.

Parents/carers should be aware that we are unable to administer any medicines at school. Should a child be required to take medication during the school day (i.e. medicine needs to be taken on more than three occasions each day), medications should be sent to the school office on arrival. The child may then take the medication under supervision. Pupils should retain any inhalers for asthma on their person at all times.

Leave of Absence for Medical Appointments

If you need to take your child out of school for a medical appointment or similar, please complete a leave of absence form at least a week in advance, detailing the circumstances and duration of the absence.  Whilst we understand that some appointments are unavoidable, we would ask that, where possible, appointments are made outside of school hours.

Leave of Absence During Term Time

A parent/carer requesting leave of absence during term time should make the application in writing at least two weeks in advance, either using our online form (link below) or by downloading the Microsoft Word document from the link below. These are also available from the school office.

If you complete the Microsoft Word document, this can be printed, completed by hand and returned to school. If you wish to return the form electronically, it can be edited, saved and returned as an email attachment to attendance@qehs.net

OR

Please also read the policy:

Children of school age who are registered at a school must, by law, attend that school regularly. Regular school attendance for a child is a legal requirement of all parents/carers.

There will be occasions when a child has to miss school, for example, if she or he is unwell and parents/carers are expected to exercise their judgement on whether their child is fit to attend school if there are signs and symptoms of illness. Any other absences should be kept to an absolute minimum. In particular, parents/carers do not have the right to take their children out of school during term time in order to go on holiday.

Government regulations state that a headteacher ‘may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances’. The Hexham Partnership of Schools discourage parents/carers from arranging any events during term time and will, as a rule, state that leave of absence will not be granted unless there are exceptional circumstances that might justify it, for example, forces personnel on leave from a foreign posting or evidence provided by an employer that states leave cannot be accommodated during school holidays without significant consequence.