Our school target for attendance is 96.8%. We take action to improve children’s attendance should it fall below 95%. This includes monitoring attendance on a fortnightly basis, letters to parents, meetings with the Headteacher and visits from the BLP Attendance Officer.
Why is good attendance important?
- Having a good education will give pupils the best start in life
- If a pupil does not attend regularly, he or she will not be able to keep up with the work
- Employers want to recruit young people who are reliable
- Parents/carers know their child is safe
- It is the law
What should parents/carers do to help?
- Ensure their child attends school every day
- Ensure their child leaves for school with plenty of time to arrive on time
- Support their child by attending Parents’ Evenings
Some figures to think about
Imagine that a pupil has 90% attendance. Sounds good doesn’t it? But is it …?
- 90% attendance = ½ a day missed every week!
- 1 school year at 90% = 4 whole weeks of lessons missed!
Please work with us to ensure that your child has good attendance
Since September 2013, The Department for Education has made changes to any requests for leave of absence for holidays in term-time:
- No requests for holidays can be authorised during term time, unless there are exceptional circumstances
The ‘exceptional circumstances’ mentioned by the Department for Education are very limited. It is therefore anticipated that there will be very few requests for leave of absence in term time that will be deemed exceptional. Most requests will therefore have to be declined and marked as unauthorised. This legislation is designed to support increased attendance and to improve standards in our schools.
The law does not give any automatic parental right to take a child on holiday during term-time. Parents/carers can be fined for taking a child on holiday during term-time without consent from the school, and as already mentioned, consent will likely be declined. If parents/carers take their child on holiday during term time, they may be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice and the timescale for paying a penalty notice has been reduced. A fixed penalty notice can require a parent/carer to pay a sum of either £60 if paid within 21 days or £120 if paid between 22 and 28 days. Each parent/carer can be issued with a notice for each child so two parents/carers with two children can potentially be issued with four notices.
Illness
If your child is not able to attend school, you should call or email school by 9.00am on the first day of absence so that we know your child is safe with you. You should inform us of any illness and a date to return to school. We will ring or text as soon as possible to locate a child who has not been registered or reported absent. All absences must be explained either by a phone call or in writing.
