Attendance Absence and Illness

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Attendance

For a child to have high levels of educational achievement, a high level of school attendance is essential. We are committed to providing an education of the highest quality for all our pupils and endeavour to provide an environment where all pupils feel valued and welcome. Parents and pupils play a part in making our school so successful. Every child has a right to access the education to which he/she is entitled. Parents and teachers share the responsibility for supporting and promoting excellent school attendance and punctuality for all. It is our duty to consistently strive to achieve a goal of 100% attendance for all children. Every opportunity will be used to convey to pupils and their parents or carers the importance of regular and punctual attendance.

What does absence equate to in terms of pupils and their learning?

  • 99.5% attendance = a pupil has 1 day off per whole school year
  • 97.0% attendance = a pupil has 6 days off per whole school year
  • 94.7% attendance = a pupil has 2 weeks off per whole school year
  • 90% attendance = a pupil is classed as a Persistent Absentee and will lose 4 whole weeks of school.
  • This has a serious impact on their learning.
  • 85% attendance = a pupil will lose nearly 6 weeks of school time, which equates to a whole half term.
  • This has a significant impact on their learning.

The school day

The School door opens at 8:45am.

Children must be in class and ready to start lessons by 9.00am. After this time, all children must enter via the office and be signed in by a parent or carer.

Children arriving after 9:00am will be marked as late.

All children are expected to attend school EVERYDAY throughout the academic year.

 

Please see documents for Penalty Notices and Attendance below.

Requests for Leave of Absence

We always encourage our pupils to be in school everyday as we know that those who are frequently absent, miss much of their learning and often find it hard to catch up. However, we also understand that children can be ill and in such cases ask parents to inform us of their child’s absence on the first day, by contacting the school office.

Whilst we discourage time off for children, parents can make requests for leave of absence by completing and returning the form below. The form also outlines the circumstances in which leave could be authorised, as well as when it could not be (such as for holidays).