Attendance & Punctuality
'Being in school and having the best attendance possible underpins all the many benefits of school for your child, such as their learning, wellbeing and wider development'
We follow the 'Working Together to Improve School Attendance' Guidance as set by the DFE. You can find more information in the links below:
Guide for parents on school attendance (DfE)
School Attendance and Support (SCC)
Good school attendance brings enormous benefits to individual pupils, their families, schools and the community as a whole. Without good attendance, levels of attainment suffer and opportunities are missed to obtain maximum benefit from education.
Persistent absence and lateness will affect a child’s achievement and progress in school. Comprehensive research shows that there is a direct link between a child’s level of school attendance and their level of school attainment.
As a parent it is your legal responsibility to ensure your child receives a suitable full time education and your child attends school each day and is on time.
It is important to set the expectation of good attendance right from the beginning of school so children grow up with ‘good habits’.
Reporting and absence
If your child is absent please inform the school, by telephone, e-mail or in person.
For safeguarding reasons, it is really vital that you let us know each day your child is absent.
If we do not hear from the parent/carer, we will call to check the whereabouts of your child, this is followed up by an email. In some cases, if we are worried or have not had a reponse, we will follow our school procedure, this will be a home visit and then, if necessary, inform Children's Services and the Police, who can do a welfare check on a child at our request.
Is my child too ill for school?
Children with a mild illness will often be well enough to attend school - for example if they have a cough, or cold, without a temperature. The NHS guidance Is my child too ill for school? - is designed to support parents in their decision making about mild illness.
Is my child too ill for school?
Attendance records
There are several codes in use for recording attendance and absences. There are two sessions each day, morning and afternoon and each session is recorded with a code. Here are the most common codes used:
M - Appointment with a doctor or dentist, etc
I - Genuine Illness
G - Unauthorised Leave of Absence
O - Unauthorised Absence
L - Late before the register closes
U - Late after the registers close. This counts as an unauthorised absence.
It really is essential that you let us know the reason for absence so we can code accurately.
Medical or dentist appointment
Medical appointments, should where possible, be made outside school hours. When this is unavoidable, your child should be in school for the remainder of the school day, whether before or/and after the appointment. Supporting evidence of the appointment should be given to the school office.
Holiday & Leave of Absence
There is no legal entitlement to holidays or leave of absence during term time.
A leave of absence can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Holidays are not deemed to be exceptional circumstances and therefore will not be authorised. If you wish to take your child out of school for any purpose a Leave of Absence form should be submitted, stating the dates and reason for absence. This is available to collect from the school office. Any requests must be made in advance of the absence.
Lateness
Having good attendance also means being on time and not being late to school. Children who arrive late can feel embarrassed, left out and miss out on important introductions to lessons. Punctuality is an essential life skill that needs to be taught from the very beginning. Gates open at 8.20am which gives you 10 minutes to arrive and make your way around to the classrooms. Gates are locked and registers are taken promptly at 8:30am. If your child arrives after 8:30am they will need to come into school via reception. An adult is required to sign them in and to give a reason as to why the child is late.
What happens if we are worried about your child's school attendance?
We monitor all children's attendance very closely and will alert parents by letter or phone call when we notice children's attendance start to slip. This could be due to Leave of absence or illness. Here is a flow chart of actions taken:
