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Attendance

Attendance Policy 2024

(Adapted to align with Working Together to Improve School Attendance, DFE, 19 Aug 2024)

Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome to our school, we would like to remind you about the importance of good attendance and punctuality, which as a school we take very seriously. Days off school soon add up and missing lessons makes it hard for your child to catch up, resulting in them having to work harder when they return to school and missing vital information that will prevent their progress. There are 190 non-school days a year for holidays, cultural experiences and family time - which is over half the year!

This image summarises the negative impact of absence from school:

Our aim is to help you to understand the benefit of excellent attendance at school.

Persistent absenteeism seriously affects your schooling and your life after school. Being absent results in loss of learning, which in turn results in lower levels of achievement and grades, which in turn results in lower employment prospects.

 

These things are fundamental to our values:

- We are ambitious and believe all pupils can achieve excellent attendance.
- We are respectful. Arriving on time demonstrates good manners and consideration for others.
- We are collaborative. We support and challenge everyone to achieve high standards.
- Regular school attendance is important to give children the best possible start in life. The aim should be to attend 100% of the time, although our school target is 97%.
- Research suggests pupils who attend school regularly are at less risk of getting involved in antisocial behaviour or crime.

 

It is important to arrive at school on time as frequent lateness adds up to a lot of lost learning:

All children are expected to aim for 100% attendance.

Parents/carers work with schools and fulfil the legal responsibility to ensure their child attends school regularly and on time.

 

What are our daily routines?

The School Day

Morning registration is open between 8.45am and 8.55am.

Afternoon registration is between 1.00pm and 1.05pm.

The school day starts at 8.45am. Pupils are expected to be on the premises at that time and that is when the registration period starts (ie when the register is taken and remains open).

When the attendance register has been taken it remains open until 9.25am in the morning and 1.30pm in the afternoon.

School finishes at 3.15pm.

 

Late arrival

Pupils who arrive after 9.00am (or 1.05pm) must go straight to the school office at the main entrance to sign in and give a reason for their lateness.

Pupils who arrive after the register has been taken (9.00am or 1.05pm) but before it is closed (9.25am or 1.30pm), will be marked as code L. This is classed as late but present for the session (i.e. the morning or afternoon).

Pupils who arrive after the register has closed and without a valid reason for being late (such as attending a dental or medical appointment) will be marked as code U, which is classed as an unauthorised absence but indicates that the pupil was physically present in school for part of the session.

 

Absent from school

If your child is absent:

Ring the school office on 01772 253851 before 9am.

The office will need:

  • child’s full name;
  • class
  • a detailed reason for absence;
  • who is contacting school.

This must be done on the first day of absence and EVERY subsequent day they are not in school.

 

Planned absence & leave of absence

Parents will be expected to make medical or dental appointments outside of school hours wherever possible. Attending a medical or dental appointment will only be counted as authorised if the pupil’s parent/carer notifies the school in advance of the appointment and provides evidence of the appointment. Parents will be responsible for ensuring their child misses only the amount of time necessary to attend the appointment.

 

The school will only grant a pupil a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and will consider requests on an individual basis.

The school will expect parents to contact the headteacher in writing, using the Leave of Absence Request Form at least two weeks prior to the proposed start date. The form is available on the school website.

 

Reducing persistent absence

If a pattern of absence becomes problematic, the school will work collaboratively with the pupil and their parents to improve attendance by addressing the specific barriers that prevent the pupil from being able to attend school regularly.

Where these barriers are related to the pupil’s experience in school, e.g. bullying, the attendance officer will work with the headteacher and any relevant school staff, e.g. the DSL and SENCO, to address this.

We will take a stepped approach to ensure excellent attendance for all pupils, as follows:

Early intervention has been shown to be vital to maintain excellent attendance. We will usually notify parents/carers and pupils when attendance drops below 97%, considering a child’s historical attendance.

A child whose attendance falls below 95% will miss 2 weeks of school over the year. For this reason, we will communicate further with parents/carers to share our concerns and offer support.

A pupil whose attendance falls below 92% is at risk of being considered persistently absent. In this circumstance we will hold a discussion with parents/carers to agree a plan to improve attendance and prevent the child from falling into persistent absence.

All pupils falling below a 90% attendance level are classed as persistent absentees.

Parents/carers will be contacted and expected to attend a meeting. Parents/carers and pupils will need to sign an agreement/contract to improve attendance to school. The school will liaise with other agencies working with pupils and their families to support attendance, e.g. social services.

Failure to improve attendance will lead to a fixed penalty notice. Parents/carers will be informed of these measures through letters sent from school. Parents/carers must act on the information in the letters to ensure they are not subjected to fixed penalty notices or prosecution. 10 unauthorised absences (10 half days) over a rolling period of 10 weeks can lead to a fixed penalty notice. This can include being late to school after the register closes.

 

Section 444 (1) of the Education Act 1996 states: If a child of compulsory school age who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly at the school, his parent is guilty of an offence. Section 444 (1A) goes on to state: If in the circumstances mentioned in subsection (1) the parent knows that his child is failing to attend regularly at the school and fails to cause him to do so, he is guilty of an offence.

 

In the majority of cases, schools and local authorities will try and provide support to help you improve your child’s attendance first, but if this isn’t effective or the absence is for unauthorised term time holiday, parents may face paying a fine.

 

It’s the responsibility of the local authority to decide when to issue fines to parents, meaning the process varies from council to council.

However, under the national rules, all schools are required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons.

From August 2024, the fine for school absences across the country will be £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. This rate is in line with inflation and is the first increase since 2012.

In the case of repeated fines, if a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160.

Fines per parent will be capped to two fines within any three-year period. Once this limit has been reached, other action like a parenting order or prosecution will be considered.

If you’re prosecuted and attend court because your child hasn’t been attending school, you could get a fine of up to £2,500.

 

At St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, we understand the positive impact that good attendance and punctuality has on our children’s learning and we believe in rewarding this to engage and motivate them. We celebrate good attendance each day, and have a number of reward initiatives to support this so that it remains a high profile in school and with our parents and families. It is never our intention to discriminate against children who do not achieve our attendance target of 97% as we appreciate that they pick up various infections and illnesses.

As a school we celebrate and promote children’s attendance with individual, class and whole school rewards based on 97% -100% attendance; this is done on a weekly, termly and end of year basis and represents a significant investment for the school. We see this as being a really important part of our work as every school day matters!

 

•         On a weekly basis pupils with attendance of 97%+ receive a raffle ticket and are entered into our end of term attendance raffle where they have the opportunity to win a gift voucher. 

•         Children who have achieved 97+% over the school year are invited to take part in the attendance reward activity.

•         Children who have received 100% attendance also receive a certificate and small prize to mark this amazing achievement.

 

If a pupil has stopped attending school and their location is unknown, we must make reasonable enquiries to establish the whereabouts of the child jointly with the local authority, before deleting the pupil’s name from the register. In such cases, we will undertake a home visit or request a home visit from the Pupil Attendance Support Team, prior to a referral being made to the local authority's Children Missing Education team.

 

If you need additional support with your child's attendance please do not hesitate to contact our Family Support Work, Lynn Catterall on 01772 253851 option 2.

 

Thank you for your support in ensuring excellent attendance and attainment at St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School.

 

Yours Sincerely

Mr John Entwistle

Headteacher

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