ATTENDANCE

The Education Act states that parents have the primary responsibility for ensuring that children of a compulsory school age receive a suitable education. Everyone knows that good attendance and punctuality are essential for children to reach their full potential. Children only get one chance at education and it is a parent’s responsibility, with the support of school, to ensure a child attends.

 

Following the recent updates to government guidance on attendance, there have been changes to the ways in which schools will handle term time holidays.

• The fine for taking a child out of school during term time has risen from £60 to £80 per child. -If this fine is not paid in the first 21 days following the penalty notice, it will rise to £160.

• All schools are now required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons, including a term time holiday.

• This will be doubled if it happens again within three years.

• Those with a third fine in a three-year period now face prosecution.

• There is no right to appeal a penalty notice. 

 

At St. Paul’s Primary School we ask parents and families to support in promoting good punctuality and attendance in the following ways:

• Ensuring that children attend school every day. Our school day starts at 8.35am, with a soft start: registration is at 8.45am and the school day ends at 3.15pm. This equates to 32 hours and 30 minutes per week.

• If your child is ill, please contact the school on the first morning of absence via telephone on 01665 602547, or you can send an email to st.paulsalnwick.co.uk. Any absences not accounted for in this way must be identified as an unauthorised absence on your child’s record.

• If your child is absent due to sickness and diarrhoea, please keep them off school for 48 hours from the time of their last episode.  This is to prevent the spread of illness among other children and is in line with NHS guidelines. If you are unsure if it is suitable for your child to be in school during or after an infectious illness please call the school office who will be able to offer advice.

• Holidays in term time are not authorised, unless there are exceptional circumstances which will be assessed on a case by case basis.

 

Monitoring Attendance

 

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve attendance and outcomes for students, we implement a staged monitoring process, which is intended to support and improve attendance across our school.

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Stage 1: Those who have an attendance percentage that falls below school’s attendance threshold will receive an initial concern letter.

Stage 2: Those who have received an initial concern letter, yet have further absence will receive a letter explaining school’s ongoing concern about the level of attendance and notification that medical evidence must be provided for all future absences.

School may also invite parents to attend a meeting to offer support and may be asked to sign a parent contract.

Stage 3: If the attendance continues not to improve a referral will be made by the school to the Local Authority Educational Welfare Officer.

Stage 4: The Local Authority will lead on future support and procedures.

 

In addition to these measures those children who are classed as a Persistent Absentee (90% or below) at the end of an academic year receive an Early Intervention letter that informs that medical evidence must be provided for all absences for the next moves academic year. These pupils will enter the monitoring process at Stage 2.