Attendance

Dear Parents/Carers
I 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 185 non-school days a year for holidays, cultural experiences and family time - which is over half the year!

It may be useful for you to know what attendance figures mean for your child:

98%-100% Excellent attendance (which is less than 4 days absence in an academic year)
95%-97% Good attendance (which is less than 9 days absence in an academic year – nearly two weeks of learning missed). St Augustine’s School’s attendance target for all students is 96% and above
90% Below average and low attendance (which is 19 days absence in an academic year – nearly one month of learning missed)
Students with 90% attendance or below are classified as Persistently Absent from school and parents/carers of students with this level of attendance or below could be issued with a Penalty Notice.
85% Exceptionally low attendance (which is over 29 days absence in an academic year – nearly 6 weeks of learning missed).

Rewarding good/excellent attendance

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 96% 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 96% -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 96%+ 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 98+% 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.

Punctuality
Arriving late to school and into lessons is very disruptive for the teacher and other class members. It also means that late pupils themselves miss important input from teachers. If for whatever reason you know that your child will be arriving late, please call the school.

Pupils arriving after the gates close at 9am must sign in at the office; they will receive a late mark if they arrive before 9:25am. Any who arrive after the close of registers at 9:25am will be receive an unauthorised absence mark.

Reporting an absence

All absences must be reported before 8:45am each day, by phoning the school office on 01772 253851
If you know in advance that your child is going to be absent, please let us know by phone or call in at the school office
Unexplained absences will be unauthorised by the school
If we have concerns about the number of absences a child is having for medical reasons then medical evidence will be needed in order to authorise them
Holidays during term time will not be authorised
Any form of unauthorised absence may be subject to a Penalty Notice from the Local Authority.

Please help your child to maintain good attendance by booking doctor, dentist, and optician appointments either in the school holidays, in the afternoon, after school or at weekends. Please provide the school with an appointment card/letter if your child needs to leave school for an appointment.

Requests for absence during term time

The law does not grant parents an automatic right to take their child out of school during term time. Any absence from school will disrupt your child’s learning. Attendance is vital to academic success and lost education poses a potential risk of under achievement. This is something we all have a responsibility to avoid.

If you consider your request for absence to be an exceptional circumstance, then please complete the Exceptional Leave Form which can be collected from the school office. The Headteacher will review the request and let you know the outcome of their decision as to whether it can be authorised.

As a school we constantly monitor individual pupil's attendance. If we see a decline without a valid reason they will be put through our attendance procedures which could result in warning letters, phone calls from a member of the Senior Leadership Team, a home visit from the Family Support Worker, involvement from the Local Authority's Pupil Attendance Support Team or a Penalty Notice referral.

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