Regular attendance at School is vital to ensure children achieve and get the best possible start in life. We want all of our children to get a great education and the building blocks for a great education begin with children coming to School each and every day. If children miss school regularly, they miss out on learning the fundamental skills that will set them up for success in the later years. Attendance patterns are established early, a child who misses days in the early years of school will often continue in later years.
We work very hard to promote good attendance and we are aiming for 96% for overall attendance which is the same as the national average. We ask for your support so that we can ensure your child receives the very best start in life.
Why is it to important to attend every day?
- Learning is a progressive activity, each day’s lessons build upon those of the previous day(s)
- Read the material and completing work independently does not compensate for direct interaction with the teacher
- Many classes use discussions, demonstrations, experiments and participation as part of the daily learning activities and these cannot be made up by those who are absent
We ask for the co-operation of parents. You can help us by:
- Encouraging your child to attend school every day and punctually.
Punctuality is extremely important; learning begins as soon as the children arrive at school.
Did you know that being late 15 minutes every day is the same as missing 2 whole weeks of school over a full academic year?
Being late doesn’t only affect your child; it disrupts other children in the class as well as the Teachers trying to teach a lesson. If children are late and miss the register, it may be recorded as an unauthorised absence.
However, if you do think you are going to be late, please do not keep your child off School for the rest of the day; being late and in School is better than being absent and missing out.
- Making all medical appointments out of School hours to ensure teaching time is not missed. Only emergency appointments or hospital appointments that can’t be rearranged will be authorised and we will always ask you to show the appointment card, letter or text in order to authorise the absence. Your child should also only be out of School for the duration of the appointment and not a whole session or day.
- Telephoning the School Office on the first morning of absence, no later than 9:00 am to inform School of the reason for absence. If you do not contact the School Office and we can’t contact you then we may carry out a home visit.
- Informing us of any changes or circumstances at home which may affect your child. Any such information will, of course, be kept in the strictest confidence.
- Supporting your child and school by attending parent’s meetings and taking an interest in your child’s schoolwork.
- Ensuring your child does not have holidays in term time. All pupils registered at school are expected to attend every day the school is open. Parents are advised to book leave during school holiday periods.
Requests for leave of absence
Parents must request permission in advance from school for leave of absence for any reason, including holidays.
Headteachers cannot grant leave during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances and cannot grant permission retrospectively.
Generally, a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation would not be an exceptional circumstance.
- What happens if you take your child out of school without permission
If you take your child out of school without the Head Teacher’s permission or without notifying them in advance it will be recorded as unauthorised absence. This may lead to enforcement action (penalty notice or prosecution).
Changes to Fixed Penalty Notices from August 2024
In the majority of cases, we will try and provide support to help you improve your child’s attendance first, but if this is not working to resolve the issues or if support is not appropriate (unauthorised term time holiday), parents and carers may be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice.
Under the new national framework, Fixed Penalty Notices will be considered when a child has missed ten or more sessions (five days) for unauthorised reasons in a period of ten school weeks. A notice may also be issued where the five day level of absence has not been reached, for example, if there are several periods of leave. Notices will be issued in line with the Local Code of Conduct.
From August 2024:
- The first penalty notice is £160 if paid within 28 days, reduced to or £80 if paid within 21 days.
- If a parent receives a second notice for the same child within any three year period, the amount of the notice will be £160 to be paid within 28 days.
- A third penalty notice cannot be issued. Legal action may result (for example, prosecution).
