Winford Church of England Primary School

2025-26 term dates

The school year is 195 days and includes six in-service days used for staff training.

Term dates

• Term 1 – Tuesday 02 September 2025 to Friday 24 October 2025        
• Term 2 - Monday 03 November 2025 to Friday 19 December 2025    
• Term 3 - Monday 05 January 2026 to Friday 19 February 2026
• Term 4 - Monday 23 February 2026 to Thursday 02 April 2026
• Term 5 - Monday 20 April 2026 to Friday 22 May 2026
• Term 6 - Monday 01 June 2026 to Wednesday 22 July 2026                                         

Foundation, trust, academy and voluntary aided schools set their own term dates and may differ from ours.

Public holidays

Our schools will also be closed for these public holidays:

• Thursday 25 December 2025 Christmas Day
• Friday 26 December 2025 Boxing Day
• Thursday 01 January 2026 New Year's Day
• Friday 03 April 2026 Good Friday
• Monday 06 April 2026 Easter Monday
• Monday 04 May 2026 May Day Holiday
• Monday 25 May 2026 Spring Bank Holiday
• Monday 31 August 2026 Summer Bank Holiday

INSET Days

• Tuesday 2 September 2025
• Wednesday 3 September 2025
• Monday 3 November 2025
• Friday 16 January 2026
• Friday 13 February 2026
• Monday 1 June 2026

Attendance

Please let us know if your child is unable to attend school due to illness or if they are going to be late. Whenever your child is absent from school, please let us know the reason via  email office@winfordprimary.com or by leaving a message on our Absence Line 01275 476580

If a child is absent, and we receive no explanation for their absence by 9.30am, we will phone to ascertain why they are not at school.  If you are having difficulties, with attendance, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss the matter with either the Headteacher or our pastoral support.

We are required by law to count any unexplained absences as unauthorised. A record is kept of a child’s attendance, including all absences, and is included in our annual report to parents. Figures for the whole school are reported to the Department of Education.

If a child is registered at school, parents have the legal responsibility for ensuring that their child attends regularly.

Medical Appointments (doctors, hospital, dentist etc.): Please inform us if your child has an appointment – parents are asked that wherever possible they remove their child from school for the minimum amount of time or make an appointment out of school hours or in the holidays.

Lateness: The registers close at 9.00; children arriving after this time will be entered as late in the register. This is counted as an unauthorised absence. All children arriving late should report to the School Office.

Absence without explanation or authorisation: This will be classed as unauthorised absence and recorded in the register as such. Unauthorised absence could lead to the Local Authority issuing a penalty notice.

Requests For Absence/Holidays during term time: The Headteacher will only authorise leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and may require evidence to validate any request. Term-time holidays should not be booked, as they are likely to be unauthorised and could lead to the issuing of a fine by the Local Authority. Parents wishing to request leave of absence should collect a request form from the office and submit to the Headteacher for approval. An appointment can be made should you wish to discuss absence requests with the Headteacher – please contact the School Office for availability.

Penalty Notices/Fines Penalty Notices are issued by the local authority and require each parent of a child of compulsory school age, whose attendance has been unsatisfactory, to pay a penalty, currently £80.00 if paid within 21 days or £160.00 if paid within 28 days. If the Penalty Notice is not paid, the case is automatically summonsed to appear in Court. Courts have a wider range of sentencing options, which could include a maximum fine of up to £2500. See link below for further details.

Penalty Notice Leaflet Aug 2024

We celebrate the class with the highest weekly attendance in our weekly Celebration Collective Worship. 

If you require any attendance advice, please ask at the office. We will be delighted to help. Please read our attendance policy for full details.