Attendance
Rationale
Our school aims to meet its obligations with regard to school attendance by promoting good attendance; ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled; and acting early to address patterns of absence.
Our attendance policy sets out our school’s position on attendance and details the procedures that all parents/carers must follow to report their child absent from school.
It is vital that children develop regular attendance habits at an early age. If the child is unable to attend the school for any reason, the parent should inform the school of the reason on the first day of absence. If the school is concerned about a pupil’s attendance for any reason, we will contact the parent to discuss the matter, in the first instance.
We will also support parents to perform their legal duty to ensure their children of compulsory school age attend regularly, and will promote and support punctuality in attending lessons.
We want our pupils to attend school every day, unless they are really not well enough to. We believe that children who attend school regularly are more likely to feel settled in school, maintain friendships, keep up with their learning and gain the greatest benefit from their education. We want all our pupils to enjoy school, grow up to become emotionally resilient, confident and competent adults who are able to realise their full potential. Regular attendance and punctuality is essential in the workplace and children who are used to attending school on time, and on every occasion unless they are too unwell to attend, will be better prepared for the attendance expectations in the workplace.
In April 2017 the Supreme Court clarified the definition of regular attendance to be attendance “in accordance with the rules prescribed by the school”, therefore if an absence is not authorised by the school, the pupil’s attendance is deemed to be irregular.
We will do all we can to encourage our pupils to attend. We will also make the best provision we can for any pupil who needs additional support in school or who is prevented from attending school, due to a medical condition.
We believe that one of the most important factors in promoting good attendance is the development of positive attitudes towards school. To this end, we strive to make our school a happy and rewarding experience for all children, and to foster positive and mutually respectful relationships with parents.
By promoting good attendance and punctuality we aim to:
Make good attendance and punctuality a priority for all those involved in the school community
Raise our pupils’ awareness of the importance of good attendance and punctuality
Provide support, advice and guidelines to parents, pupils and staff
Work in partnership with parents
Celebrate and reward good attendance and punctuality
DFE Recommended Links
Is my child too ill for school?
Working together to improve school attendance
The Children’s Commissioner’s Back into School resources for children, schools and families