Attendance and Absence

Attendance at school is crucial for a range of reasons: developing academic knowledge and skills; making and keeping friends;experiencing the full range of extra-curricular activities; and accessing the support systems that help pupils thrive emotionally.

In secondary, we record pupil attendance every period and in primary a register is taken morning and afternoon. It is important that parents follow the procedures set out below.

Contacting the school

Tell us about anything related to attendance by:

Please include your child’s name, class and the name of the class teacher (Primary) or tutor (Secondary).

You will be contacted by text using GroupCall at around 9.30 am if your young person is absent and you have not contacted us. We will follow up by phone if you do not respond to this text message. In the afternoon, we do the same for primary and S1-3 pupils.

Planned Absence
Please share the full details of any planned absences. We will pass the relevant times and dates with subject teachers for their planning purposes but will not share any sensitive information.

Primary pupils going out of school must be collected from and returned to the Reception Office. 

Secondary pupils must report to the North or South Office prior to leaving the school and immediately upon their return. 

No pupil should leave the school during the day without permission. Any pupil who feels unwell must speak to a member of staff who will take appropriate action. 

Unexplained absences

We will write home every week with note of any unexplained absences and ask that these are accounted for timeously. Detentions are issued to pupils who do not complete this basic administrative task. We also send attendance summaries to all parents / carers in October, December, April and June.

Term Time Holidays

We cannot authorise term time holidays. These will be marked as unauthorised absences unless on compassionate grounds. Parents are strongly advised not to remove their children for holidays during the session.