Attendance at IVJS

​As a school, we follow the Buckinghamshire Council School’s Attendance policy very closely. You will be able to find the full policy on our attendance page but here are answers to a few of the most frequent questions we get!

Attendance
 
Will I get fined if book a holiday in term time?
Probably! We report all holidays to the County Attendance Team who are responsible for issuing fines. We (and they!) understand that there can sometimes be exceptional circumstances however it is down to the council to decide if the reasons would qualify as an acceptable reason for an absence and whether or not to issue a fine.
 
My child is ill, how will this affect their attendance?
An absence is classed as a child who is not is school or another approved educational setting. This means illness is classed as an authorised absence. It still counts towards their overall attendance percentage. We understand children get ill and in many cases like vomiting or fever, all you can do is rest and recuperate at home however we would suggest that getting a doctors note when you have more than a day or two off because any prolonged absences without ‘evidence’ will be seen as irregular attendance and can also trigger a fine!
 
Why do IVJS send out 5 week letters and what are they?
We monitor attendance weekly and anyone with attendance that drops beneath 90% over the previous 5 week period, this is equivalent to over 2.5 days absence. This will trigger a Buckinghamshire Council’s Attendance Team’s standard format letter to be generated and sent out. This means that we as a school will be monitoring your child’s next 3 week’s attendance. Generally, when children have a bug/illness, they are off, they recover and are back in school as normal which will be reflected. Although we send you a letter to inform you that we are monitoring your child’s attendance, this type of monitoring is designed to track regular and persistent ‘odd day here and there’ absences, not target children who are genuinely ill!

​If you have any other questions, let us know!