Attendance

Attendance information for parents and carers

Regular attenders make better progress both socially and academically
Regular attenders find school routines and school work easier to cope with
Regular attenders find learning more satisfying
Regular attenders have an easier transfer to secondary school

As a school we aim to:

Maintain an attendance rate of a minimum of 96%
Maintain parents’ and pupils’ awareness of the importance of regular attendance, sending letters to parents at term end if child’s attendance is of concern (90% or less)

We will:

Follow up unexplained absences by phone calls and letters as soon as possible
Remind parents of the importance of regular attendance and punctuality
Acknowledge and reward good attendance
Publish your child’s attendance with their school report
Let you know if we have concerns regarding your child’s attendance

As a parent you can help us by:

Ringing on the first morning of all absences with the reason
Arranging dental and doctor’s appointments out of school hours or during school holidays
Keeping us updated by telephone or letter if your child has an extended period of absence due to illness
Please note: if your child is absent due to sickness and diarrhoea please ensure they are kept home for 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting/diarrhoea.

Punctuality

Morning registration is at 8.50am. This is the time your child must be in the classroom, so you need to ensure your child is entering their classroom by 8.45am
It is important to be on time as the first few minutes of the school day are often used to give out instructions or organise school work for the rest of the day
Arrivals after 9.20 am may be marked as unauthorised absence in line with government guidance
We will let you know if we have concerns about your child’s punctuality

Authorised absences

Some absences are allowed by law and are known as “authorised absences”. For example, if a child is ill, family bereavement, religious observance. We realise that there are rare occasions when there might be a particular problem that causes your child to be absent. Please let us know and we will try to deal with it sympathetically.

Unauthorised absences

There are times when children are absent for reasons which are not permitted by law. These are known as “unauthorised absences”. Examples are:

Going for a family day out
Sleeping in after a late night
Because it is your child’s birthday
Going shopping or for a haircut
Waiting on a delivery
Where there is no explanation for the absence or where explanation is considered unsatisfactory.

Unauthorised absences have to be reported to the Governing Body, they may contact you and consider taking legal action against you if your child has unauthorised absences.

Legal Note

Amendments to the 2006 regulations remove references to family holiday and extended leave as well as the statutory threshold of ten school sessions. Parents have a legal duty to ensure the regular and full time attendance at school, of registered pupils (Section 7 Education Act 1996). Failure to do so in an offence. In some cases, parents are prosecuted or have to pay a Fixed Penalty (fine) if unauthorised absences continue. These came into force 1^st September 2013. The amendments make clear that Headteachers may not grant leave of absence during term time. The Headteacher will contact those parents who have sustained periods of unauthorised absence.

On 6^th April 2017 the Supreme Court released its judgement that the term regular means ‘in accordance with the rules prescribed by the school’ i.e. to attend for all the sessions that the school is open.
When a child is absent from school where this has not been authorised a parent/carer can be held accountable for an offence under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 – failure to secure the regular attendance at school of a child.

It is the responsibility of the Headteacher to consider whether absences are authorised or not dependent upon the reason provided by the parent / carer. Therefore, if the school advises a parent / carer that unauthorised absence has been accrued or that a Leave of Absence will be marked unauthorised there would be evidence of the child failing to attend school regularly.

Where there is evidence of unauthorised absence the school has a duty to notify the Local Authority for the consideration of the issuance of a Penalty Notice to each parent/carer.

As retrospective authorisation is not permitted for instances of Leave of Absence (holidays in term time) prior permission should be sought direct from the school prior to any Leave of Absence being taken.

There is no automatic right to authorised absence from school and it remains the responsibility of the Headteacher to determine whether or not authorisation is permitted.

We value your support in helping us to maintain high standards.