Attendance

The school has high expectations in relation to children's attendance. This is because for children to receive a wide education and achieve their full potential, they must be at school regularly and on time. Government research shows that there is a strong link between regular school attendance and academic achievement. The Government advise that an attendance rate of less than 96%, in one academic year, will have detrimental effect on a child's education. One week off school will affect your child's attendance by 2.64%. It is the school's expectation that children will have an attendance rate in excess of 96%. Each child's attendance is reviewed on a regular basis. Mrs Dowding, our Assistant Head Teacher or our Family Liaison Officer, is available to meet with parents to discuss any problems that could be preventing your child attending school. They can be contacted via the school office.

If your child's attendance is causing concern, you will receive attendance letters including the summary of your child's attendance. If there is not an improvement in your child's attendance, you will be invited to attend a School Attendance Panel Meeting with Mrs Dowding to explore ways we can support you to improve your child's attendance moving forwards. We do understand that children occasionally get poorly but we ask that you do your best to encourage them into school and work with us if there is an issue or a longer-term illness. Children who miss school regularly can very quickly fall behind and begin to find keeping up with their work difficult. If you have any worries at all about attendance please do come and speak to us, or click on the following linkfor advice from the NHS Is my child too ill for school? 

For more information please see our Attendance Flowchart.

Please don’t stay away

Your children are our future leaders, carers, teachers and parents. We don’t just nag about attendance because their education is a legal requirement. For us, it’s about giving them the very best opportunities right from the start. If attendance is a problem for your child or you, please contact Mrs Dowding or Miss Pycock (our Senco) straight away. Early intervention is the best way to help your child get the best from our school. Don’t be scared to call. Make some notes before you ring, if that will help. Here are some questions to ask yourself…

• Do you know why your child is refusing to attend? Is there a pattern? For example, do they always struggle to come to school on Thursdays, and is Thursday a PE day or a teacher’s job share day? Do you do something different on Thursdays?
• Is there a member of staff with whom your child feels comfortable, who might be able to help?
• Do you have an idea for a school incentive that we can put in place to encourage them?
• Are you the school refuser? Often parents don’t realise that their children are using their superpowers to home in on their parents’ emotions. Does it make you feel sad when you have to leave your child at school? Do you dislike a teacher or a friend of your child?

Please rest assured that whatever is behind your child’s frequent absence, we can help, and we want to help.

Safeguarding

We ask that parents and carers make contact with us daily before 9.00am, so we are aware of ALL children's whereabouts. In the event we haven't heard from the parent or carer, our office staff will always try and make contact with you. Where a child has an unauthorised absence from school for 2 days in a row our team will visit the family home to establish the reason for not attending school and to check that the child is safe. 

General Absence

Please contact the school on 01406 363381 and speak with the office staff before 9.00 am stating the exact reason for absence e.g. cold/cough, sickness etc. If you have to leave a message please be specific about the reason for your child's absence. If the reason given is vague, the office team will be asked to call you to clarify the exact circumstances of your child's absence.

The school is very aware that some children have medical or personal circumstances which negatively impact on attendance on a long-term basis, and we understand that many of our children have had chicken pox or scarlet fever during this academic year, which will also have lowered their attendance percentage. The school is required to provide the Local Authority with evidence to show how we are supporting families where a child's attendance is below 95%. At this early stage it is not possible to break down the attendance of every child, which is why letters will be sent to all families in this category regardless of the reason.

 We hope this will answer any questions and help you to understand why these letters are being sent out. If you have any worries about your child's attendance, you do not need to wait for a letter!

Lateness & Punctuality 

So what does Attendance and Punctuality Really Mean?  Please look at the percentages and punctuality times below to see how many days of education children miss if they are consistently late or miss days of school.

Did you know.....????

5 Minutes late per day is 3.4 days of learning lost over a year.
10 Minutes late per day is 6.9 days of learning lost over a year.
15 Minutes late per day is 10.3 days of learning lost over a year.
20 Minutes late per day is 13.8 days of learning lost over a year.
30 Minutes later per day is 20.7 days of learning lost over a year.

Lateness

This is a serious concern because children who arrive at school late miss the vital teaching that begins the lesson and often struggle to grasp what is being taught. When a child arrives late for school, they can find this very unsettling as it is not a good way to start their day. Where lateness is a recurring problem the child’s education will suffer. It is also disruptive for the other children in their class.

Please note that:

Children are welcome onto the school grounds from 8.40am.
Classroom doors are opened at 8.40am.
Registration takes place at 8.50am.

Children are marked late if they arrive after 8.50am. In this instance, they must go to the main entrance at the front of the school as the classroom doors will not be open.

Please make every effort to ensure that your child arrives in good time for the start of school to enable us to provide them with the best education possible.

Illness

The school accepts that from time-to-time children become ill and are unable to attend school. In these situations, we ask parents to call the school office on a daily basis with an up-date on your child’s condition and, if possible, give an indication as to when you think your child will return to school. For minor illnesses such as coughs and colds, we encourage children to be brought to school.

Medical appointments

The school expects, where possible, that medical appointments should be scheduled for after school hours or to take place during school holidays. Medical appointments will only be authorised if an appointment card or letter is seen by the school office. In the case of an emergency appointment an appointment card should be obtained during the appointment and given to the school upon the child’s return.

Holidays

From the 1st September 2013 changes were made to the law which relates to parents and carers taking their children on holiday during term time. The change in legislation indicates that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless they consider there to be exceptional circumstances. The amendment in the law removed all references to family holidays.

The Trust will no longer be granting parents and carers time off to take their children on holiday.

If you consider there are exceptional circumstances to support taking your child out of school a Request for Leave form should be completed and handed in at the school office. This must be supported by documentary evidence for our Attendance Officer to consider.

Absences during SAT’s and examination periods will not be authorised.

If the school are concerned about your child’s attendance rate you will be notified and the appropriate actions taken to improve this. Ultimately the school reserves the right to contact Lincolnshire County Council who hold the powers to issues penalty notices (fines) and/or prosecute parents for failing to ensure their child’s regular attendance at school.

The Requests for Leave must be completed and returned to the school office prior to the period of absence; please give the school as much notice as possible of your request. The application will be considered carefully and we will notify you of the school’s decision within 10 working days. We strongly advise that no leave of absence is booked prior to receiving a decision from the school.