Attendance
When I became headteacher we built our behaviour policy around our school value of Care, rather than a strict sanction system. We are absolutely committed to building positive relationships with the children so they feel safe and respect others and themselves. For the first few months this was very challenging for children and staff, as the children did not know where the boundaries lay. However, now we are very proud of the children’s behavior and the choices they make.
This approach of focusing on Care and relationships rather than sanctions is exactly the same approach we have to attendance. I will not be sending you warning letters and I will not be sending you fines. I will be phoning you and working with you so that parents, class teachers and myself can do everything we can to ensure your child is in school as often as possible. If your child is anxious, we will provide them with extra support. If they do not feel 100%, let us know and again we will provide them with extra support in school. If you are ill and can not get them in, phone us and we will see how we can help.
Children being in school makes a difference to their education and life chances. Working with parents; ensuring children are happy and receive the highest quality education, which excites them and ensures they achieve, and the highest levels of Care which ensures they feel safe and valued is the best way to achieve this.
Our attendance is consistently above the national average. However, this is not our measure of success and we will continue to do everything we can to improve children’s attendance
Attendance Systems
If your child is absent from school due to illness, please ring school on the first day of absence to inform us of the reason. We ask parents to try to avoid appointments during the school day whenever possible.
If your child does need to attend an appointment, please provide us with details in writing. For any other absences, please complete a Leave of Absence Request Form, which can be downloaded below or collected from the school office.
How Our School Monitors Attendance
The register is taken twice a day. If the school has not been informed of a child’s absence, Mrs Lockett (School Admin Officer) or Mr Brooke (Headteacher) will make a phone call to the parent/carer on their first day of absence.
Children’s attendance is closely monitored. If a child’s attendance falls below 90%, the first step will always be a conversation with Mr Brooke to discuss ways that the school can support the family in improving attendance. If a child’s attendance does not improve, attendance will be discussed with parents/carers in a Team Around the School meeting.
Holidays in Term Time
Please note that absences will only be approved in exceptional circumstances.
Research has shown that there is a clear link between levels of attendance and levels of achievement and that, in short, the more time a pupil misses school, the lower their levels of achievement are likely to be.
After illness, the taking of holidays in term time is the single largest cause of absence from schools in England. Taking holidays in term time has a disruptive impact upon pupils’ learning, creating gaps in knowledge which are a barrier to current and future learning. It may also suggest to some pupils that their education is not an important priority.
If you wish to request permission for a term time holiday, please complete and return a Leave of Absence Form at least four weeks before the start of the proposed holiday.
Please be aware that holidays taken without permission may lead to fixed penalty fines of up to £120 per parent for each pupil being issued by the Local Authority.