Attendance & Punctuality

Being at school is a very important part of any child’s life. It enables them to learn, make friends, gain important knowledge and develop a variety of skills which prepare them for their future.

School and parents/carers are partners in making this a success. As parents or carers it is your legal responsibility to make sure that your child makes the most of this opportunity by aiming for 96% attendance.

Good Attendance

100% = 0 weeks learning missed

96% = 1 week 2 days learning missed

Poor Attendance

90% = 3 weeks 4 days of learning missed

85% = 5 weeks 3 days of learning missed

Very Poor Attendance

80% = 7 weeks 3 days of learning missed (a full half term missed)

75% = 9 weeks 1 day of learning missed

Attendance policies can be found on our Policies page here.

How much learning has your child missed?

School Absence

By law, schools must record absences and the reason given. You should contact school before 9:30am with a reason for absence. If no reason is given or the reason given is not deemed acceptable, your child will receive an unauthorised mark.

Attendance Procedures

  • We do not authorise absences without a good reason.
  • We will try to ring you if your child is absent and we have not heard from you.
  • We monitor attendance carefully and we will write to you if your child's attendance drops below 96%.
  • If attendance problems continue we will ask you to meet with us to discuss the way forward and possibly ask you to provide medical evidence before we will authorise anymore absences.
  • If all measures fail to lead to an improvement in attendance, we will refer your child to the Local Authority and this may lead to a Penalty Notice or further legal action being taken. If

Leave of Absence

The current law does not give any entitlement to parents to take their child out of school during term time. The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 prohibits Head teachers granting leave of absence to a pupil except where an application has been made in advance and the Head teacher considers that there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application.

If the absence is not authorised and the leave of absence is taken, the case will be referred to the Local Authority who may issue a Penalty Notice for £120 (or £60 if paid within 21 days) to each parent for each child taken out of school.

Medical Appointments

Non-urgent medical appointments should not be made during the school day. If the appointment needs to be during school hours, please provide the school with appointment cards or hospital letters, so that a copy can be taken for the school records.

If you have a concern or there is an issue around attendance, please contact the school. There is advice and support for children and their families.

Punctuality

When your child arrives late at school, he/she misses the teacher’s instructions and the introduction to the lesson. Your child may also feel embarrassed at having to enter the classroom late. Punctuality is important for children to start the day off well.

How can you help?

  • Ensure your child arrives in time. Check with the school about opening times.
  • Prepare packed lunches, school bags and breakfast items the night before.
  • Make sure the alarm clock is set at a reasonable time for getting everyone up and ready.

If you need support and advice about punctuality issues, please contact the school.

For more information about dropping off your child and picking your child up from school on time, please visit The School Day page on our site here.
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