Attendance

School Attendance Information

It is essential that we return to our high expectations of attendance. All pupils are expected to attend every day, unless they are too unwell to do so. Absence is not authorised for holidays, days out or sibling/family illness. however we do expect pupil attendance to be above 96% unless in extenuating circumstances as per national guidance.

As you are aware, we constantly monitor our pupil’s attendance and work with parents to ensure that pupils receive the education and life choices they deserve. Good attendance in school is a key objective to improving attainment. If a child is absent from school they miss out on key aspects of a sequence of lessons, alongside key building blocks within a curriculum topic and other keys aspects of learning.

Why worry about attendance?

A 90% attendance rate means a pupil is missing one half day of lessons every week. If that pupil has a 90% attendance rate through KS1 and KS2 they will have missed one half of a school year in that time!
A pupil with an 80% attendance rate over 5 years misses one complete year of school. In attendance terms that would mean the pupil has missed 40 days of education in a school year, just over 1 day per week. Therefore if pupil’s attendance remains at 80% from year 1 to year 11 they will miss more than 2 full years of education!

Good school attendance contributes to all outcomes for every child. Parents should perform their legal duty by ensuring their children attend regularly and are punctual to their lessons. Time away from school also has a huge impact on young children socially as they may find it difficult to form strong relationships with their peers if they are often absent. It is also very difficult for them to catch up on missed work which continues while they are away.

Obviously if your child has an illness they need to be kept home but please could we ask that you adhere to the following guidelines:

Please notify us by 8.45am of your child’s absence on the first day and tell us what the specific illness is i.e. sore throat, sickness bug – not just unwell.
Continue to contact the school each day of absence. Work will not be set for children, as if they are well enough to work at home, they are likely to be well enough to attend school. However, in extenuating circumstances, pupils are encouraged to access the online learning platforms such as times table rock stars.
Only keep your child home for as long as the illness lasts – even if this means returning to school on a Friday – this is still a school day and is a whole day of learning that your child will miss! If a child has been unwell with sickness or diarrhoea, they should only return once they have had a clear 48 hour period. Please see this guidance. Diarrhoea and vomiting - NHS
Please do not keep children at home for any other reason, e.g. sibling/parent illness, birthday, day out.

We strive to work with parents to improve attendance and we will write to you to make you aware of any concerns we have if a child's attendance falls below 96% over a three week period. This monitoring will then continue until attendance/punctuality improves to a satisfactory standard.

We would ask for your on-going co-operation and if you have any concerns please do not hesitate to contact the school for support.