At Y Bont Faen Primary School we want every child to gain the most from their education; coming to school every day, on time, is an important part of children reaching their full potential.

Punctuality

We believe in a positive start to the day for all our pupils, which is supported by arriving on time in a calm settled manner ready to embrace the day. Pupils who are consistently late miss valuable learning time. In the event that lateness cannot be avoided, pupils should enter via the main entrance and report to the school office. Children who are significantly late must be accompanied by an adult.

School starts at 8:50am for all pupils, including those in Nursery. The gates to the playground are opened at 8:40am, to enable children to be in school on time and ready for the bell to ring, and closed at 8:50am.

School finishes at:

  • 11:30am for Nursery
  • 2:55pm for Nursery Wraparound Care
  • 3pm for Reception to Year 6

Attendance

The school target for all children is 96%, so we want all our children to come to school regularly and only be absent if they are ill.

Informing the school of absence

If your child is unable to attend school due to illness please notify us by telephone, email or by using the absence feature on the Arbor Parent App. You should do this by no later than 9:30am on the first day of absence.

Children who have sickness and diarrhoea should be kept off school for 48 hours.

If your child becomes ill during school time it is important that we have up to date contact numbers so we can inform you of this.

Appointments

Parents should make every effort to book any appointments outside of school time.  If your child has an appointment in the morning, they should come back into school as soon as it is finished so they don’t miss their lessons. If your child has an appointment in the afternoon, they should come to school for the morning.

Absence for holidays

The Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010 give schools discretionary power to grant leave for the purpose of a family holiday during term time. Parents do not have an automatic right to withdraw their child from school for a holiday and, by law, have to apply for permission from the school in advance. The school will only authorise family holidays where parents are able to demonstrate that unique or exceptional circumstances prevent the holiday from being taken outside of term time. In general, holidays during term time will not be authorised. In June 2025, the Vale of Glamorgan Council outlined that they would support all VOG schools to NOT authorise holidays in term time, unless in ‘exceptional’ circumstances – these circumstances can be found in appendix 3 of the School Attendance Policy.

If a parent or carer believes that they have an ‘exceptional’ reason for requesting authorisation, they must apply to the head teacher four (4) weeks in advance for permission for their child to have leave of absence. Forms to request a leave of absence (Holiday Request Form) can be obtained as either a paper copy from the school office or downloaded as a Word document by clicking here. The head teacher will consider the request and respond in writing within 5 school days to inform the parent or carer whether the request has been authorised. Subsequently, a parent or carer can make an informed decision whether they wish to pursue the absence in the knowledge of any potential consequences. Parents and carers are advised that a fixed penalty notice may be issued by the local authority when permission for a holiday or leave of absence has not been authorised by the school. The local authority’s Code of Conduct for Issuing Fixed Penalty Notices can be obtained from the school, the local authority’s website or the Education Welfare Service.