Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School

Attendance, Breakfast and After-School Clubs

We believe that consistent and punctual attendance is fundamental to both the achievement of our children and high academic standards. We expect to begin both the morning and afternoon sessions in an atmosphere of calm where all pupils are present for registration and the commencement of the appropriate lesson. The attendance coordinator for our school is Mrs. Lester, the Acting Head Teacher. Mrs Griffiths our attendance officer and Miss Evans, our Education Welfare Officer assist her.

At Holy Trinity Catholic School, there is an expectation that all pupils will maintain an excellent attendance record. We want our registers to show the highest attendance possible or which have absences explained by parents or carers and authorised by the Head Teacher.

School gates open at 8.45am for Walk into Learning and registers are taken at 8.55am. This is the time your child must be present for. If your child is late you must bring him or her to the school office and sign in. We have Wake Up Shake Up Club before school, an activity club run and designed by our Sports Coaches to support the children’s healthy lifestyles. This starts at 8am and runs until Walk into Learning at 8.45am. This costs 75p per day and is useful childcare. School lessons end at 3.25pm and children are then dismissed to parents or after school clubs. A full programme of extra-curricular activities exists for children from Year 1 onwards. We call this the Learning Hive, our younger children (Years 1 to 3) being the Busy Bees and our older boys and girls being the Hornets. We feel that extra-curricular clubs are opportunities for further learning and so we structure these into ten week units. These range from craft and environmental clubs to many sporting activities. There are also music and prayer groups. All children, regardless of ability are encouraged to pursue an interest within school and also to report on their life outside school within parish activities such as cubs or brownies. We especially encourage attendance at parish Mass where ever our children live.

Holidays must not be taken in school time and, where they are unavoidable, cannot exceed five school days each year. The Governing Body, in line with government requirements, expects parents to arrange family holidays to coincide with school holidays. Where this is not possible, due to work commitments, a holiday form must be completed PRIOR to the holiday being taken. No more than five days will be authorized, except in very special circumstances, and your child’s attendance record will contain unauthorised absence information.

Periods absent from school on extended holidays mean that we cannot guarantee that the child’s place in school will remain open. This relates to holidays of longer than 20 school days. Parents should be aware of this before deciding to take a child away from school for this length of time.