Attendance
School Attendance
Good attendance and punctuality are essential for the best academic outcomes in school. The children when arriving on time with their peers are also more content and settled throughout the day. It also teaches the children the expectations for their whole life at work. Our attendance policy can be found on the policies page.
School Day
The school day for all children is from 0840 - 1510 hours daily. This equates to 32 hours and 30 minutes for all children weekly. Key Stage 2 registers close at 8:50am and Key Stage 1 and Reception registers close at 9am.
Absence
In all cases of absence, the school must have an explanation from parents. The school should be contacted everyday of an absence by phone or email at office@dedham.essex.sch.uk. Where there are medical appointments during the school day, the school will require sight of the medical appointment card or a text from the service stating the time and date of the appointment.
Holiday Absence Requests
As from 1st September 2013, the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 amended Regulation 7 to prohibit headteachers from granting leave of absence to a pupil, except where an advance application has been made by the parent with whom the pupil normally resides, and the headteacher considers that there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application. There is no entitlement to parents to take their child out of school during term time, however, you may apply to the school for leave of absence if you believe there are exceptional circumstances. Requests for absence should be made on an official form available at the office ( and is also an appendix to the attendance policy). A penalty notice may be issued in cases where unauthorised absence has been taken.