Attendance

We have received a new document from the Department for Education: ‘working together to improve attendance’ and this document provides a fresh drive on how to help schools maintain and improve high-level attendance following the Covid pandemic. Looking forward we aim to promote the contents of this document within our attendance policy to continue to increase our previously excellent attendance figures, as in the past we have been proudly above the National average.

It is the legal responsibility of every parent to make sure their child attends school, as the document states a  “child must attend every day that school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill or being given permission for an absence.’’  We appreciate and understand that sometimes children are genuinely ill and should not attend school, however we are trying to reduce the number of days missed due to minor illnesses. When children are absent from school it means they miss out on valuable learning and friendship opportunities. Studies show that the highest attainers at the end of KS2 are children with the best attendance and below are examples of how attendance is impacted upon by school absence:

Pupil attendance over one school year

98% attendance = approximately 4 days absent from school

95% attendance = approximately 10 days absent from school

90% attendance = approximately 4 weeks absent from school

85% attendance = approximately 5 ½ weeks absent from school

80% attendance = approximately 7 ½ weeks absent from school

Pupil attendance over 5 years

85- 90% attendance = similar to having half a year off school

80% attendance = similar to having a whole year off school

To support your child to attain good attendance we ask you to:-

• Phone school every day before 8.40am to report your child’s absence, if school does not receive a phone call regarding absence this will be recorded as an unauthorised absence, monitored by our Educational Welfare Officer.
• Medical appointments are to be made outside the school day, where possible and if your child has an appointment during the school day medical or other - evidence will be required.
• Ensure all holidays are booked during school holiday times. The term dates for the next two years are available on the website.

It is a requirement for the Local Authority and Ofsted to monitor children who fall below the expected level of attendance. They in turn expect the school to provide figures, produce letters, arrange meetings to improve attendance and reduce the number of days missed from school. Attendance figures are analysed closely by Ofsted during their inspections and can thus impact on the overall school grading given. Outstanding schools are expected to have high levels of attendance, above 96% at least.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind parents that we are unable to authorise any request for leave of absence and this includes holidays, unless the absence is needed for an exceptional circumstance. It is expected that any leave of absence is taken during the thirteen weeks of school holidays. We would appreciate it if families think carefully about the impact of unauthorised absences on our school community and, as advised by Government, take their holidays outside of term time.

We will be sharing our attendance with you on all future newsletters and from September attendance rewards will be re-introduced for the children.  Historically parents have always worked with us to improve our whole school attendance and we hope this will continue as we all work together to ensure our children receive the very best education.

If you have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate to contact school.

Thank you for your continued support.