Attendance and Punctuality

We expect all children to have good attendance, classed as 96% or above.

Good attendance is not simply just a legal requirement. It is essential if pupils are to take full advantage of the range of opportunities that school offers and gain the skills that will equip them for their next stage of education and for adult life.

Any child attending less than 90% is known as a persistent absentee, and the school has a duty to contact parents, hold meetings, and inform the Borough of these children.  We may also do unannounced home visits.

All children are entitled to receive the full benefits of education; poor attendance is therefore a safeguarding issue.

We recognise punctuality as an important issue as frequent lateness will cause children to miss aspects of their education, is upsetting for the child, and is disruptive to others.

If a child regularly attends school late, the minutes they miss can add up to days, weeks or even months of absence. If children are persistently late or continually absent without good reason, our Family Liaison Officer will be informed.  Measures will be taken to address the lateness and/or regular absence.

ATTENDANCE PROCEDURES FLOW CHART

Absence

If your child is unwell or not attending school for any other reason, please notify the school (via phone or ParentMail) before 9.00am on every day of absence, confirming the name of your child, their class and the reason for absence including symptoms. This needs to be done each day of your child's absence, unless the absence has been agreed in advance, for example, if your child is going into hospital for an operation.

If you do not contact the school to confirm why your child is not at school, you will receive a text message from the school. If you do not respond to the school text, we regard this as a concern because we have not heard from you and we have no explanation for your child's absence.  We will therefore be concerned for your child's wellbeing, and we will log our concern on our internal record system.
 

Holiday during School Time

Children should not be taken out of school during term time. Current legislative guidelines issued by the Department for Education states that “Headteachers should not grant leave of absence unless in exceptional circumstances”. Please ensure that you help us observe this directive by not applying for holidays in term time as we will not be in a position to authorise these. Taking children out of school during term time could have a detrimental effect on the child’s progress. 
 

Medical Appointments

We do ask that wherever possible, appointments are made outside of the school day. However, should you need to come in during the course of the school day to collect your child for an appointment, you will need to come to the main reception in the KS2 building via the front entrance (The Mead) and sign your child out via our electronic system. We ask that you supply a copy of the appointment letter, email or card so that the absence can be marked as authorised.
 

WHY GOOD ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Below is a table showing how children’s percentage attendance equates to the amount of school time missed.

Below is a graph which illustrates how being late to school every day over a school year adds up to lost learning time over one academic year.

Please see link below with government guidelines for schools about when children should be kept off school and when they shouldn't.

Is my child too ill for school?