Attendance & Punctuality
Please may I draw your attention to some changes to the Educations (pupil legislative) (England) Regulations 2006 which became law on 01 September 2013. This clearly states that Headteachers cannot grant leave of absence for holiday or other time off unless there are exceptional circumstances. In these rare cases it is the Headteacher who determines the number of days a child can be away from school if a leave is granted.
Please bear in mind the following information:
1. The bell rings at 8.40am and the register is taken. Lessons start at 9.05am. Any child who arrives after 8.50am needs to go straight to the office to report their arrival so it can be marked as late.
2. If a child is absent, and the school has not been informed of a reason for the absence before 11.00am, an automated phone call home will be made.
3. There are two types of absence – authorised or unauthorised leave of absence.
Absence may only be authorised for:
- Genuine illness
- Emergency medical/dental appointments (routine appointments should be made outside of school hours)
- A maximum of 3 days, in an academic year, for religious observance of the religious body to which the parent belongs.
- Education off-site e.g. transfer days to Secondary Schools.
- Approved Educational Activities – with supporting evidence, e.g. to attend a sports tournament, ballet exam.
All other forms of absence will NOT be authorised:
- One-off short absence for family events or closure of a sibling’s school
- Holidays, including days overlapping the beginning and or end of term, availability of cheap flights or previous inability to take a holiday.
- Sickness absence will be recorded as unauthorised, if the school is not advised of the reason why the child is out of school.
- Absence that falls into one of the other categories listed above, will be unauthorised if it is taken without prior permission.
We are required to monitor the attendance of all pupils. If a child’s attendance rate slips below 95%, letters will be sent home to the parents informing them of this. Within the letter, the parents will be asked to ensure that the child’s attendance rate improves and the school will continue to monitor this closely. If the attendance rate slips below 85%, absence for illness will only be authorised with medical evidence. We expect to see an immediate improvement in the child’s attendance rate. If attendance does not improve during the following term, we may refer to the Educational Welfare Service and they may make contact with you.
The following information highlights the effect of absence on your son or daughter.
|
175 Non-School Days a Year 175 days to spend on family time, visits, holidays, shopping, household jobs and other appointments. |
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|
190 School days in each year |
10 days absence |
19 days absence |
29 days of absence |
38 days absence |
47 days absence |
|
|
180 Days of education |
171 Days of education |
161 Days of education |
152 Days of education |
143 Days of education |
|
100% |
95% |
90% |
85% |
80% |
75% |
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Good Best chance of success. Gets your child off to a flying start |
Worrying Less chance of success. Makes it harder to make progress |
Serious Concern Not fair on your child. May result in fines and court action. |
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Why attendance matters
- Of pupils who miss more than 50% of school, only 3% manage to achieve five A* to C’s including English and Maths.
- Of pupils who miss between 10% and 20% of school, only 35% manage to achieve five A* to C’s including English and Maths.
- Of pupils who miss less than 5% of school, 73% achieve five A* to Cs including English and Maths. DFE 2011
I would ask that you bear all of this information in mind as I am sure that we all agree that children perform best academically with continuity of attendance.
In the event that you should require a leave of absence for exceptional circumstances then you should put in a request in writing at least two weeks before the absence is required. Please outline in detail why you consider this request to be of an exceptional nature. Leave of absence requests will not be made retrospectively. Pupil Term-time Absence Request Form.