Attendance

There is a clear link between pupils’ achievement and their level of attendance at school. The governors and staff, alongside the LA, firmly believe that all pupils benefit from regular attendance. We want all pupils to achieve the very best they can and for this they need to be in school regularly.

Aims:

To define the legal duties for the school and parents to ensure that children attend school regularly and on time;
• To set out roles and responsibilities for the school, parents and children,
• To set out the ways in which good attendance is promoted and the link made with educational achievement,
• To set out ways in which school can support parents in ensuring children attend school.

Expectations

Children should be at school, on time, every day the school is open, unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. Permitting absence from school without a good reason is an offence by the parent. Some children are sometimes reluctant to attend school. Any problems with regular
attendance are best sorted by the school, the parents and the child. If a child is reluctant to attend, it is never a good idea to cover up their absence or to give in to pressure to excuse them from attending. This gives the impression that good attendance does not matter and may make things worse. Every half-day absence from school has to be classified by the school, not by the parents, as either authorised or unauthorised. This is why information about the cause of each absence is always required.

The School Day for Nursery Children

The School Day for Reception to Year 6 Children

The school celebrates attendance each week as part of the Celebration Assembly:

• Weekly attendance certificates for best attendance class
• Best attending classes shown on notice board

The target for attendance is 97% and all classes are made aware of their progress towards this target.

You can find out more information about school attendance in our Attendance Policy.