It is the responsibility of parents of a child of school age to make sure that their child is educated.   

Parents must inform the school if the child is absent providing the reason for this and they should respond promptly to communication from the school regarding attendance.

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You should update the school on each day of your child’s absence by calling the office. 

Outwith school hours you can leave a clear message on the absence line 0131 332 8539 detailing your child’s name, class and reason for absence. Please be specific as we must record a medical reason for Health monitoring.  “unwell”, “ill” or “won’t be in” are not able to be recorded on our system.  

If there is no explanation from a child’s parents, the absence will be regarded as unauthorised.  If we do not hear from you, or we have safeguarding concerns, we have a duty to escalate these concerns to Social Care Direct.  Please keep us informed of any absence reasons. 

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Lateness

At Flora’s our school doors open at 8:50 and children are expected to be ready to enter then. After 9am children are recorded as late. Arriving after 9am has significant impacts on your own children, and the others in the class.

The first minutes of the day are crucial.  They are a settling time and a connection point to check in with each other.  It is the time in the day when news is exchanged, emotions are supported, timetables gone over, learning plans shared and work starts.  Of all the twenty minutes in a day, the first twenty are the most disruptive to miss for children’s wellbeing, learning and confidence.   Being regularly late also impacts on the rest of the class, with routines and plans having to be reshared, taking teacher time and attention.