School times

School starts at 8:50 and finishes at 3:20. 

This amounts to 32.5 hours each week.

Late Arrivals

The register marking time begins at 8.55am and closes at 9.00am. Classroom doors will close at 8.55am.  Any child arriving after 8.55am must enter via the front entrance and they will be signed in using our electronic signing in system.  Children arriving after registers have closed at 9.00am will be recorded on our system using a L (Late) code.  If a child arrives after 9.30am they will be recorded as late using a U (Unauthorised absence) code with the number of minutes late recorded against the code.

Late Pickups

If parents are late collecting children at the end of the day, the children will be taken to the school office and will wait outside the Headteacher’s office. Reception and KS1 children will be taken to the office at 3.30pm.  If a child is collected from the office, they will need to be signed out via our electronic system and a reason for the lateness needs to be given. If a child has not been collected by 3.35pm the office staff will ring the named contacts until someone is able to collect the child.

Absence Reporting

• Parents need to contact the school as soon as possible on the first day of absence with a full explanation for the absence.  If no one is available to answer the phone in the office a voicemail should be left on the school answer phone.  Alternatively parents are encouraged to contact the school using the office email address: reception@overdale-inf.leicester.sch.uk The school will need to be contacted on each further and subsequent days of absence.
• NB: Notes/letters provided by parents/carers in explanation of absence will be stored on your child’s file. Failure to provide a valid reason for your child’s absence on the first day they are away from school is unacceptable and will result in an unauthorised attendance mark until such time as the school deems a valid explanation has been given. 

The impact of absence from school has been calculated and presented in a table below. 

Illness

It can be difficult deciding whether to keep your child off school when they are unwell. 

There are government guidelines for schools and nurseries about managing specific infectious diseases these can be found here. These say when children should be kept off school and when they shouldn't.

If you do keep your child at home, it's important to contact the school as detailed above and let us know the reason for the absence. 

If your child is well enough to come to school but has an infection that could be passed on, such as a cold sore or head lice, let their teacher know.

There are some illnesses for which specific guidelines apply:

Chickenpox

Keep your child off school until the spots have crusted over, this is usually about 5 days after the spots first appear.

COVID-19

Your child should try and stay at home to avoid contact with other people if they have symptoms of COVID-19 and they either:

• have a high temperature
• do not feel well enough to go to school or do their normal activities.

If they have mild symptoms, and they feel well enough, they can still go to school.

Vomiting and/or diarrhoea

Children with diarrhoea or vomiting should stay away from school for 2 days after their symptoms have gone. This means they can return to school 48 hours after the last episode of sickness or diarrhoea.

Unauthorised Absences

If your child is absent, and we have not been notified as to why (see above for notification procedure), we will:

• E-mail or telephone you on the first day of absence (and on subsequent days) until an explanation is provided.
• Write to you if we are concerned about your child’s attendance or an emerging pattern of high level absence.

Invite you into school to discuss the situation with our Head Teacher and/or Deputy Head Teacher/Educational Welfare Officer if absences persist.