Attendance Policy

Our School's Aim

To ensure our school environment promotes and maintains high levels of attendance for all our pupils so that they benefit fully from the educational opportunities available. In order to do this we must:

Ensure parents know times of school day, communicate clearly the procedures and regulations relating to attendance and punctuality.
Ensure that parents are well aware of the importance of good attendance.
Record absence and ensure prompt follow up.
Acknowledge and reward good attendance and punctuality.

Role of parents/carers

Ensure that their child attends school regularly and arrives on time.
To be aware of the importance and benefits of regular attendance.
To keep school informed regarding their child’s absences.
To liaise with the school regarding requests for extended leave.
To arrange annual holidays at times when school is closed.

Role of Class Teacher

To ensure that registers are marked regularly and accurately (am and pm)
To encourage parents to notify reason for their child’s absence, preferably written.
To follow up unexplained absences, liaising with the Attendance Officer in order to make sure that information about a child’s attendance is up to date.

School procedure

Information about the importance of good attendance, procedures for notification of absence and the legal requirements are shared with parents in the following ways:

Attendance Matters leaflet
School brochure
Newsletters
Parents meetings
Home visiting in the nursery
Reception parents meeting
Discussion with the headteacher/deputy

The registers are marked as soon as the children enter the class, at 8.55 and 1.15pm each day. They are collected from the staff room by the class teacher. After marking, the registers should be returned to the office.

The register should be marked with a left dash for attendance, two dashes for a late start and right dash for absence. Absence should be recorded as unauthorised until the school receives an acceptable reason, which enables the absence to be authorised.

Action

Collate letters and telephoned messages concerning reasons for absence.
Monitor pupils' attendance regularly to ensure early identification of absence patterns
Report concerns to Mr McNamara (Attendance Officer), Mrs Brown (Headteacher) Mr Swallow (Deputy Headteacher)
Establish good relationships with parents to facilitate co-operation.
Ensure that attendance and lateness letters are sent out.
To provide parents with a summary of their child’s attendance at each parents evening (termly).
To include an annual breakdown of attendance with each child’s end of year report.
To liaise with the Education Welfare Officer(EWO) for advice and referral.

First day contact

The school will ask parents to inform the school of the reason for an absence on the first day of that absence. This can be done by:

A phone call to school (leaving a message on the answer phone if there is no reply)
Returning an absence slip or note with a brother or sister.

If there is no message from the parent, the Attendance Officer will ring to make contact to find out the reason for absence.

Role of pupils

To know the time of the school day. To know that it is important to attend school on time.
To do what they can to arrive at school regularly and on time.
To know that staff have a positive expectation of them regarding their work and behaviour.

Role of Governing Body

To ensure that attendance registers are kept properly and that the school is familiar with the LEA attendance policy.
To ensure that attendance data is presented at Governing Body meetings
To ensure that the attendance data is published in line with legal requirements.
To request information on pupils with poor attendance and support the school in developing positive strategies for improving attendance.

Role of the Education Welfare Officer

To provide the link between home and school concerning attendance and lateness issues
To undertake inspection of registers on a regular basis
To evaluate the school’s procedures and targeting of pupils

We currently liaise with Marja Morey who visits the school on a regular basis. Education Welfare Officers can be contacted through the Headteacher. A referral form is to be filled out if initial school procedures have proved unsuccessful. Where possible there should have been a meeting between school and parents prior to the involvement of the EWO.

Staff attendance

The school acknowledges:

The importance of regular attendance of all school staff
The possible effects on children’s attendance and achievement
The school will monitor staff attendance and follow guidance given in the LEA management of absence policy.