The School day starts at 8.45, but the gates open at 8:30 am and finishes at 3.15. Regular school attendance is essential to enable children to maximise the educational opportunities available to them and achieve their full potential. The school works with families to identify the reasons for poor attendance and tries to resolve any difficulties. Attendance is a matter for the whole school community. Please ensure that extra curricular activities and medical/dental appointments are organised outside of school hours.  Children should not be collected before the end of the school day, bar exceptional circumstances.

Please ensure that your child is in their classroom by 8:45 am. Children arriving after 8:45 are record as late. The office staff have been requested to to ask parents to provide a reason for any lateness, which is record for monitoring purposes. As lessons start as soon as a child enters the classroom, it is essential for all pupils to be in school on time in order not to miss out on important learning time and avoid any unnecessary disruption to the class. Further information is available in the Attendance Policy on the website.

Illness – If your child is late or absent from school, for whatever reason, parents must inform the office of the reason for their lateness or absence by 9:00 am.  Please call press Option 1 for the absence line, parentmail or email the school office. (office@gucs.org.uk) If we do not hear from you by then, you will receive a phone call requesting an explanation, so we can ensure your child is safe.

If your child has had sickness, diarrhoea or a high temperature they can return to school 48 hours after the last episode to reduce spreading any infection. Please notify the office and your child’s class teacher every day of your child’s illness. You can use Dojo to communicate with the class teacher but you must also notify the office of their absence.

With regards to illness, if your child is sick for more than 5 consecutive days, a medical certificate or evidence of a medical appointment may be requested.

Please do not send your child to school if they are unwell.  However, if they become unwell during the school day, we will of course contact you. 

Please notify us as soon as possible in case of infectious disease or likely prolonged absence. An absence for which no satisfactory explanation has been given is recorded as unauthorised.

Forms requesting absence during term time are available from the school office but serious consideration should be given when taking children out of school as this interferes with the continuity of their education. Apart from exceptional circumstances, the GUCS Absence policy will record all absences due to holidays as unauthorised.