Attendance

Encouraging regular attendance is one of the best ways you can prepare your child for success,

both in school and in life.

We believe that the primary years are an important time when the foundations for learning are made and good attendance is therefore vital. Children need to attend the academies regularly if they are to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them by law.

Regular attendance is a major factor that contributes to a child’s progress. If your child has 10 days of absence during the year, his or her attendance for the school year will be only 94.7% and therefore at the level where there is likely to be an impact on learning.

If your child had 10 days of absence every year over the 7 years spent at primary school, it would be equivalent to him or her missing an entire term in school!

Clearly there will be occasions when a child is unable to attend our academies e.g. due to illness. However, we ask that all other absences are kept to a minimum and avoided if at all possible.

In law, parents/carers are committing an offence if they fail to ensure the regular and punctual attendance of their child at the school at which the child is registered, unless the absence has been authorised by the school. Only schools have the power to authorise or grant a leave of absence.

Absence and reasons for absence are monitored on a daily basis. Therefore, if your child is absent through illness it is helpful if you can telephone the appropriate academy (preferably between 8:30am and 9.00am). There is an answer phone where you can leave a message.

To support you in monitoring your child’s attendance throughout the year, we may contact you by letter if your child’s attendance is beginning to become a concern and needs to improve.

The school are committed to supporting parents and carers who are finding school attendance an issue. An academy based Family Support worker is available for support and advice. We welcome parents to discuss any issues that they may be having, with the class teacher, Head of School or Family Support Worker. There may be practical advice and support that can be given or signposting to other agencies may be useful.

For more information on attendance visit the Department for Education website at https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence

96%-100%

WELL DONE THIS IS EXCELLENT!

If you are in the green you are hardly ever absent.

If you remain in the green all year you will have missed less than two weeks of school.

You may even have been here everyday.

With this level of attendance you have given your child the best possible chance to fulfill his/her potential.

91%-95%

BE CAREFUL

If you are in the amber you have missed some days of school, probably on more than one occasion.

If you remain in the amber you could be missing more than two weeks learning in a year.

With this level of attendance we will be working with you to ensure that it improves.

90% or below

PERSISTENT ABSENT PUPIL

If you are in the red this because you are persistently absent from school.

If this continues you could miss 4-6 weeks of vital learning a year or even more.

It is likely that if your child has persistent absence or unexplained absence the school will already be taking steps to ensure attendance improves, Targets will be set for improving attendance. We may also liaise with other agencies to support your family in helping you to improve your child's attendance or even taking court action.