Care and welfare Your child’s welfare is central to the ethos of the school. Please contact the school to share any concerns you have about your child’s welfare or wellbeing. The staff will work with you as parents and carers of our pupils to make sure that your children are safe, happy and able to benefit for the educational opportunities we offer. The handbook gives details of how we deal with bullying, homework, special needs and many other areas of your child’s wellbeing. School security Renfrewshire Council has introduced procedures to ensure the safety and security of pupils and staff when attending or working in a school. We use a number of security measures, including a visitors’ book, badges and escorts while visitors are within the school building. Normally, anyone calling at a school for any reason will be asked to report to the school office. The school staff then make the necessary arrangements for the visit. Attendance and absence It is the responsibility of parents of a child of school age to make sure that their child is educated. Most do this by sending their child to school regularly. Attendance is recorded twice a day, morning and afternoon. Absence from school is recorded as authorised, that is approved by the education authority, or as unauthorised, that is unexplained by the parent (truancy). Please let the school know by letter or phone if your child is likely to be absent for some time, and give your child a note on his or her return to school, confirming the reason for absence. If there is no explanation from a child’s parents, the absence will be regarded as unauthorised. Contact procedures If a child is absent from school, parents are required to phone or email the school office by 9.30 am on the first day. If no telephone call or email is received, parents will automatically receive a text message asking them to phone the school immediately. If an absence is planned, please inform the head teacher in writing. If a child requires to depart early for any reason the school office must be notified in advance. Please make every effort to avoid family holidays during term time as this disrupts the child’s education and reduces learning time. The head teacher can approve absence from school for a family holiday in certain extreme situations, for example, in traumatic domestic circumstances where the holiday would improve the cohesion and wellbeing of the family. Please discuss your plans with the head teacher before the holiday. If the head teacher does not give permission before the holiday, it will be recorded as unauthorised absence. The head teacher can also exercise discretion when a parent can prove that work commitments make a family holiday impossible during school holiday times. Normally, your employer will need to provide evidence of your work commitments. Absence approved by the Head teacher on this basis is regarded as authorised. Parents from minority ethnic religious communities may request that their children be permitted to be absent from school to celebrate recognised religious events. Absence approved by the head teacher on this basis is regarded as authorised absence. Extended leave can also be granted on request for families returning to their country of origin for cultural or care reasons. A supportive approach is taken to unexplained absence. However the education authority has legal powers to write to, interview or prosecute parents, or refer pupils to the Reporter to the Children’s Panel, if necessary. Attendance and absence data Absence rates are calculated as a percentage of the total number of possible attendances for all pupils of the school in the stage shown. Each morning and each afternoon of each school day is considered as a separate possible attendance. The attendance and absence data is included in the Transferring data section of the handbook. Where figures or percentages based on a number of pupils under any particular heading is between 1 and 4, no information is given and ****** is inserted in place of the figures. The authority’s and Scotland’s figures include all education and grant aided primary schools, but exclude all special schools.