Attendance
All absences need to be reported to the school office on each day that your child is off school. Absences should be reported to school by calling the school office. A message can be given to a member of staff at the pupil entrance.
Any absences that are not reported before 9.10am will be marked as unauthorised unless there are exceptional circumstances.
If you need help ensuring that your child attends school everyday then please let us know - we may be able to help! Mrs Whitfield is there to help and support families.
Attendance
Children’s attendance has a direct impact on their attainment and for this reason it is important that, wherever possible, children are present in school. We therefore urge you to avoid pupil absences wherever possible.
If your child is not in school for any reason this needs to be reported by ‘someone with parental responsibility’.
Parental responsibility means:
- All natural parents, whether they are married or not;
- Any person who has parental responsibility for a child or young person; and,
- Any person who has care of a child or young person i.e. lives with and looks after the child.
This includes adults living with the children and relatives but not siblings or family friends.
This can be done through direct contact with a member of staff, a telephone call, or a letter. If we do not receive this notification, the child’s absence will be marked as unauthorised.This will need to be done for each day that the child is absent from school.
If your child is off for 5 days or more with an illness we will require a doctor’s note or appointment card with the child’s name. If these are not provided, the children’s absence will be marked as ‘unauthorised’.
Any illness or absence that is not reported to the office will be unauthorised.
We ask that dentist, opticians and doctors appointments be made out of school time wherever possible.
If this is not possible then an appointment card must be presented to the office with as much advance notice given as possible.
Please see below, our school's attendance policy. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's attendance record, please do not hesitate to speak to Mrs Whitfield.
For information and advice on when to keep your child off school for infection control issues please see the below document by the Public Health Authority.
Attendance meetings
If your child's attendance has dropped below 90%, we will make you aware by sending letter 1 from our policy. Where attendance has not improved and continues to be a concern, we will make contact through a phone call followed by letter 2. If the issue persists, we may request an 'Attendance Meeting' where we will go through an 'Attendance Improvement Agreement'. If your child's attendance does not improve at this point, the case may be referred to the Education Welfare Officer who may issue a Penalty Notice or Prosecution should there be more than 10 unauthorised absences within any given term. As a school it is our aim to work closely with families so, wherever possible issues are dealt with before it gets to this stage.
The Importance of Punctuality
Punctuality is a very important learning habit as there is a clear link between attendance/punctuality and attainment; the more time a pupil spends in school the more likely they are to improve their opportunity to fulfil their full potential.
Being frequently late for school or lessons adds up to lost learning time:
- Arriving 5 minutes late every day adds up to over 3 days lost each year.
- Arriving 15 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year.
- Arriving 30 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 19 days a year.
Being on time is a good thing:
- It gets the day off to a good start with everyone in a positive frame of mind.
- It helps your child make the most of their learning and sets positive patterns for the future.
- It helps children develop a sense of responsibility both for themselves and for others
- It helps your child make and keep friends.
- It improves self-confidence.
Children are welcomed into school from 08:30am and registers are taken at 09.00 am. For safeguarding reasons, the doors will be closed and the gates will be locked at 9am. Any child arriving after this point will be marked as late.
Registers close at 9.10am. Any child arriving after this point will need to be signed in at the main office and will be marked as ‘late –after register closes’. For attendance purposes, this counts as an unauthorised absence for the morning session.
Along with attendance, punctuality is also monitored. Where there are more than 3 late marks in any one term, parents will receive a letter.