Attendance & Medical

Attendance and Student Illness

If your child is not well, please contact the Attendance Officer, as soon as possible by telephoning 01707 650702.

Chancellor’s is committed and determined to encourage excellent levels of attendance and punctuality to enable students to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them.

Chancellor’s aim is to:

• To ensure sick students are identified

• To ensure sick students are cared for appropriately

• To protect students and adults from preventable infections

• To enable staff and parents to be clear about the requirements and procedures when students are unwell

• To give guidance to parents and carers so they understand the recommended time scales for keeping students off school in case of a common illness

The Importance of Attendance

Making sure your child attends school regularly is your legal responsibility as a parent/carer. It is also crucial for your child’s education and future.

Full attendance enables your child to make the most of their education. Students who miss days at school risk not understanding classes and not making expected progress. By law, only the school can authorise your child’s absence. It’s important to keep the school informed if your child is going to be absent because they are ill.

 

Chancellor’s School’s attendance target for all students is 96% and above. Students with attendance 90% or below are classified as persistently absent from school and parents of students with this level of attendance or below could be issued with a Penalty Notice.

Our most recent GCSE results have shown a direct link between attendance and exam success. The group of students with 96% attendance or higher have made excellent progress in their GCSE exams. Within this group, 85% achieved 5 or more passes at GCSE including English and Maths. The lower the rate of attendance, the lower the exam results. It is therefore essential that your child is in school as much as possible to facilitate them in their exam success.

Absence reporting procedure

There is a clear process for you to follow to inform the school that your child may not be attending because they are ill:

1. The parent/carer must telephone the school between 8.00am and 8.30am to inform the school that their child is absent and the cause of the absence. The school will ask for the nature of the illness (in the case of sickness/diarrhoea, the checklist in Appendix A will be used) and the expected duration of the absence. The administrator will give guidance on the recommended length of absence if appropriate. This phone call is logged with the Attendance Officer. Parents coming into school to drop off siblings of the sick child must inform the office of the absence.
2. If the school does not receive a phone call, within the above timeframe, from a parent/carer, the school will phone home to ascertain the child’s whereabouts and reason for absence. If the school can’t contact the parent at home, school will contact emergency contacts until whereabouts of the child and their well-being can be confirmed. This is part of our safeguarding procedures.

Decisions regarding attendance or absence:

Common sense is the best guide when deciding whether or not to send your child to school.

Common Conditions:

Most conditions can be classified as one of a few minor health conditions. Whether or not you send your child to school will depend how serious you judge the illness to be. This guidance can help you make that judgement.

Coughs and Colds – a child with a minor cold or cough may attend school. If the cold is accompanied by shivers, drowsiness or a fever please keep your child away from school until the symptoms have been reduced and your child feels well enough to join in with a normal school day – usually 24 to 48 hrs.

If your child has a severe cough it is best to consult your GP, who can provide guidance as to whether the child should stay at home. A severe cough can be debilitating for the child, interrupt lessons and your child will not be at their best.

Raised temperature – if your child has a raised temperature they should not attend school until the temperature has returned to normal and they are feeling better.

Rash – rashes can be the first sign of many infections such as chicken pox and measles. Children with these conditions should not attend school. If your child has a rash, check with your GP or nurse before sending them to school.

Headaches – a child with a minor headache does not normally need to be kept off school. If the headache is accompanied by a fever or rash, then keep your child off school and consult your GP.

COVID-19

Since the guidance for the management of Covid-19 has changed following the successful vaccine programme. Students who test positive for COVID-19 and are fit and well should attend school as normal. Students who are unwell should stay at home until they are well enough to attend. 

Vomiting and diarrhoea  

Non-viral :

Children can be sick for many reasons – eating too many sweets and fizzy pop, eating a food which disagrees with them; you know your child and whether any of the above have caused the sickness.

Some children also have specific intolerances to certain foods; they may be sick or have diarrhoea but are then well once the offending food has left their system.

If any of the above are the reason for the vomiting then the child may return to school once they feel well – after 24 hrs.

Viral conditions:

Vomiting can also be caused by a viral condition. It is this form of sickness that concerns us most as we do not want other children to be infected and viral conditions can spread through a school quickly.

If you cannot identify a reason for your child’s sickness and perhaps other members of the family have been ill, the sickness is accompanied by a fever, listlessness, a temperature and a general feeling of being unwell do not send your child to school for 48 hrs following the last incident of vomiting or diarrhoea.

Some children recover very quickly and may appear to be well after 24 hrs but if the vomiting was not linked to over eating or type of food eaten please keep your child away from school for the full 48 hrs just in case they are still carrying the virus.

If you return your child to school before the 48 hrs and the cause of the vomiting is known to be viral, the school will ask you to take your child home for another day even if they appear well.

Sore throat – a child with a sore throat alone does not have to be kept from school. If your child is ill with it, the child should stay at home. A sore throat is often a precursor to a cold.

If your child has not been their normal self at home but is not showing signs of illness when brought to school, parents should mention this to staff and ensure that contact details are correct and that they are obtainable.

To minimise the risk of transmission of infection to other children, and staff, the following guidelines should be considered:

Is your child well enough to join in the varied activities of the school day?

The school cannot supervise your child if you do not think they can go outside at break times. If your child is not fit for school, keep them at home.

Does your child have a condition that can be passed on to other children or staff?

If so, keep your child at home.

Would you take a day off work if you had this condition?

If so, keep your child at home.

Common Conditions

Most conditions can be classified as one of a few minor health conditions. Whether or not you send your child to school will depend how serious you judge the illness to be. This guidance can help you make that judgement:

Disease/Illness	Minimal Exclusion Period
Chicken pox and shingles	5 days after the onset of the rash. Immuno-compromised children/adults – should take separate advice from their GP
Conjunctivitis	A child should stay away if the eye is discharging until treated for 24 hrs and/or eyes appear normal again.
Covid-19	Children and young people who are unwell should stay at home. They can return to school when are well enough to attend.  Adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have a high temperature.
Diarrhoea & vomiting	Please see advice above. Or in the case of viral conditions – until there has been no diarrhoea or vomiting for 48 hrs
German measles – rubella	5 days from the onset of the rash and until the child feels well
Headlice	No exclusion but please treat immediately and inform school
Impetigo	Once the spots have crusted over or healed or 48 hours of antibiotics and the child feels well
Mumps	7 days from the onset of swollen glands and the child feels well
Scabies	Child may return to school the day after treatment.

 

What will the school do if a child is ill in school?

If a student complains of feeling unwell, the staff will initially monitor their condition and keep them comfortable depending on their symptoms. Sometimes getting some fresh air, sitting quietly for 10 minutes settles the child and they may recover.

If a child is still feeling unwell they will be seen by a First Aider and if a decision is made to send a student home the parent/carer will be contacted in the order they appear on the schools emergency contact list. In the meantime the child will be kept as comfortable as possible until a parent/carer arrives.

If the member of staff considers the illness/situation to warrant immediate medical attention, they will report to the Senior Leadership Team who will contact emergency services and the carer or parent notified accordingly.

Collecting a sick child from school

The school administrator or teacher will describe the child’s symptoms, any treatment given and direct the parent to this policy on the school website before bringing the child back to school.

The parent/carer will be asked to collect the student from Reception and to sign them out of school.

If a child returns to school and staff feel that the child is still unwell we reserve the right to either ask the parent/carer to take the child home or contact the parent/carer to collect the child.

Administering Medicines in school

On the rare occasions that children need medication during the school day a written parental consent form needs to be completed which is available from the school office.

As a general rule:

The school will only administer prescribed medicines that cannot be given outside the school day. For antibiotics that need to be given 3 times a day – these can be given before school, after school and at bedtime so there would be no need for staff to administer the medicine in school.

We do understand that there may be exceptional circumstances where a child may need pain relief in school time.

In these exceptional circumstances, agreement to administer Paracetamol/Ibuprofen or antihistamine products must be sought, in advance, from the School. In these circumstances it will be expected that the parent/carer will consent to this via the Arbor Parent Portal and supply the necessary medication to the school.

The school will not accept a third party administering medicines to a child e.g. a friend of the parent.

APPENDIX A

Sickness Absence Checklist - Vomiting / Diarrhoea      Name of Child:      Reported By:                                      Date/Time:
Is sickness related to food/over-eating/allergy/intolerance?
If yes, advise return in 24 hours if feeling well enough. If unsure, proceed to following questions.
If yes to any of the following advise return 48 hours after last episode of vomiting/diarrhoea:
Has any other family member suffered from vomiting/diarrhoea?
Is sickness accompanied by fever, listlessness, temperature, generally unwell?
Have any other cases of viral sickness/diarrhoea been reported to the School?