Attendance

A good education helps to give children the best possible start in life.

Promoting and supporting good attendance at school is essential to helping children become happy and successful learners.

Good attendance is important because your child will:

• get on better with learning and other children; 
• cope better with school routines, work and friendships;
• find learning easier because they do not miss out;
• be more successful moving between primary school, secondary school, higher education and employment or training;
• be known to be safe in school with adults who care for their welfare.

Research shows a direct link between high attendance and doing well at school. All children have the right to an education. We encourage and expect 100% attendance for all pupils. 

We will:

• tell pupils and parents the importance of being at school;
• check that pupils are at school every day;
• follow up and check the absence of persistent non-attenders;
  • phone home on the first day of absence to check where absent children are
  • follow up an explained absence by phone call and email, and meetings for persistent absentees
• aim for an attendance rate of at least 96%
• monitor school attendance data of individual and groups and target our support towards removing barriers to attendance for individuals and groups who need it most;
• discuss poor attendance with parents to understand any barriers the pupil or family might be facing;
• facilitate support for families to help remove identified barriers to attendance. This could include support through the local authority attendance team, access to early help, such as parenting service or SEN support; 
  • where absent persists and support offered is not being engaged with, we will communicate the consequences to parents. This may include formalising support through  a parenting contract or education supervision order.
  • when all avenues of support have been exhausted and support has not worked or being engaged with, the Local Authority can enforce attendance through a statutory intervention or prosecution to protect a pupil's right to an education;
• share and discuss attendance data with the Local Governance Committee on a termly basis.

 Parents:

• by law, must ensure that their child attends school;
• should arrange dental and doctor’s appointments out of school hours or during school holidays, whenever possible;
• make sure that their child arrives on time
• should contact the school on the first day their child is away from school before 9am

Is my child well enough for school?

It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they're unwell.

It is usually okay for parents and carers to send their children to school with mild respiratory illnesses.

This would include:

• general cold symptoms
• minor cough
• runny nose
• sore throat

However, please don’t send your child to school if they have a temperature of 38°C or above.

If you do keep your child at home, it's important to phone the school on the first day before 9am. Let them know that your child won't be in and give the reason. Keep the school updated every day.

The NHS ‘Is my child too ill for school?’ guidance has further information for you to refer to.

If your child is well enough to go to school but has anything that could be passed on, such as a cold sore or head lice, let their teacher know.