Jun 01 Q. How should we mark our register in a period of enforced closure such as the current Covid-19 outbreak?

Jun 01 Q. What do we code a child who attends school but has to go home due to his ADHD behaviours? We also have other students who can’t cope with attending school all day due to their mental health and need to be sent home. Should we use the ‘C’ code for these students or should we code them as ‘I’ for illness?

Jun 01 Q. I’m hoping you can help me. My daughter is competing in an international cheerleading competition in June. She needs three days off from school. This will be after her SATs. The school is only allowing exceptional circumstances for leave. If this leave were to be granted, could she be marked down as educated off-site? As she is training and performing it’s harder than a P.E lesson. I also know that other children who were taking part in a pantomime were marked down as this.

Apr 03 Q. We have a student on roll who has been remanded in custody in a youth offending institution (YOI). Should we remove him from the school roll?

Apr 03 Q. On the advice of Public Health England, we recently had to close the school for two days for a deep clean following an outbreak of Norovirus. During the period before and after the school closure, attendance was poor due to the number of children who were absent due to illness. How do we evidence this when reporting to the governors?

Dec 03 Q. I am the attendance lead in an infant school and I have been asked by the senior leadership team to put a rewards and attendance incentive initiative into place. I am uncomfortable with this as our children are very little and reliant on parents to secure their attendance at school. Is it good practice to reward the attendance of children?

Dec 03 Q. I have taken a post in a new school that is in a different local authority. In my previous school, we applied for a penalty notice to be issued each time a child had 10 unauthorised leave of absence sessions. I have been told that the process is different in this local authority. Is that correct?

Feb 28 Q. Does delaying a child’s entry to Reception when they have a late summer birthday affect when they become of compulsory school age?

Feb 28 Q. We mark our afternoon register at the end of the day. Does this mean that a child can come in just before registration and we have to mark them as present for the whole session?

Feb 28 Q. Which communities can the ‘traveller exemption’ about the amount of annual attendance required be applied to?