St Anne's RC Primary School

September 2020

 

Dear Parent/Carer,

Every child should aim to achieve an overall attendance of 97%+ each academic year.  Studies have shown that poor attendance is linked to poor attainment.  At St Anne’s we want all our children to Enjoy and Achieve.

It is a parents’ legal responsibility to ensure the regular full-time attendance of their children.

 

COVID 19

From the start of the autumn term 2020 pupil attendance will be mandatory and the usual rules on attendance will apply, including:

• Parents’ duty to ensure that their child of compulsory school age attends regularly at the school where the child is a registered pupil
• Schools’ responsibilities to record attendance and follow up absence
• The ability to issue sanctions, including fixed penalty notices, in line with local authorities’ codes of conduct

 

PUNCTUALITY

School starts at 8.50am and the register taken at 9am.  Children arriving after this time will have to sign in at reception and will receive a late mark. They MUST be brought to school by an accompanying adult who will be asked to sign the register. Children arriving after 9.30am will receive an unauthorised mark for the morning session.  If you are 5 minutes late every day that adds up to over 3 days lost each year.  15 minutes late is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year.

 

ABSENCES

All absences must be reported to the office by 9.30am on the first day of absence.  If we receive no contact from yourself we will endeavour to contact you via the school texting system or telephone you direct.  If we are unable to make contact with you by telephone, a letter informing you of the absence will be sent out and a reply slip included for you to complete and return to school.  Consequently, all absences without reason will be marked as unauthorised on your child’s attendance record.  School and the School Health Advisor are able to offer advice and/or leaflets on exclusions due to illness e.g:

1. Chicken pox (child can return once the spots are healed over)
2. Diarrhoea and Vomiting (24 hours after last episode)
3. Coughs and colds (no absence required)
4. Head lice (no exclusion, treatment should be completed without absence

 

Furthermore, if your child is absent for two or more days there may be occasions when school requires parents to provide proof of illness; this can be in the form of a doctor’s letter, copy of prescription and or medication, which

 

clearly show the dates corresponding with the absence.  Certain circumstances may result in a home visit, where possible we will contact you prior to this to agree a convenient time.

 

Please ensure that school has your most up to date contact details, including current mobile number and

Email address.

 

Pupils are required to attend school for 190 days each year

 

Schools absences and attendance figures:

‘PUPIL’ Final Attendance for the year	Equal to days absent	Equal to weeks absent
95%	9 days	2 weeks
90%	19 days	4 weeks
85%	29 days	6 weeks
80%	38 days	8 weeks
75%	48 days	10 weeks
70%	57 days	11.5 weeks
65%	67 days	13.5 weeks

 

 

 

MEDICALS

Where possible, please make medical appointments outside of school hours.  However, we understand at times this is sometimes difficult, on these occasions please provide school with a medical card or letter. A medical appointment DOES reduce your child’s percentage attendance. 

Please also be aware we are not able to authorise siblings being taken out of school when they do not have an appointment.  These absences will be unauthorised.

 

OTHER ABSENCES

Children are required to attend school every day.  Please be aware that absences for ‘snow’ ‘rain’ or ‘extreme cold weather’ days do affect your child’s attendance, whilst in exceptional circumstances these may be authorised this does reduce your child’s overall attendance.  However, if school make the decision to remain open during adverse weather conditions, absences will be unauthorised.

 

SPORTING ACTIVITIES

School acknowledge that there are occasions when children will be required to attend sporting tournaments, competitions or sporting exams during term time. Proof of this must be provided to school. School are unable to authorise competitions that are held over the weekend but where parents choose to travel to the venue on a school day.  School receive notification of Dance Troupe Competitions and therefore should your child be absent at this time due to illness a doctor’s note will be required to enable school to authorise.

 

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE

School encourage and support our children and their families to celebrate religious events, however children are expected to be in school every day leading up to religious festivals and back in school immediately after.  If parents keep their children off school for longer than is entitled these days will not be authorised.  School will only authorise the date of the festival, a maximum of 2 days per academic year.

 

HOLIDAYS IN TERM TIME

Holidays MUST NOT be booked prior to requesting permission from school, the application must be made at least 6 weeks before the intended departure. Forms are available from the school office.

The amendment to regulations is still in place making it clear that the Head Teacher ‘may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.’  This includes visits to countries of origin.

Penalty notices will be requested by school.

Research shows that breaks of one week or more from school often leads to children falling behind in their work and that some children never catch up.

 

PENALTY NOTICES

School may at times request that a Penalty Notice, through the Education Attendance Service, is issued to a parent/carer, this will only be used when parent/carers have been informed of our concerns, offered support but do not work with us and/or show continued and sustained improvement.  Penalty Notices will be requested for the following reasons;

1. Persistent unauthorised late arrival to school (after 9.30am)
2. Unauthorised absences were no reasons have been provided by the parent/carer or the reason is not accepted by school
3. Holidays during term time

Parents must from the 1^st September 2013, pay £60 within 21 days or £120 within 28 days, this is per parent, per child’.

 

FAST TRACK TO ATTENDANCE

Fast Track to Attendance is a time focused approach to improve attendance.  The aim of Fast Track is to promote early intervention by school and where necessary by the Local Authority.  The aim is to ensure that rapid and appropriate action is taken to tackle absence problems as soon as they become apparent.  Failure to make and sustain changes will result in the Local Authority prosecuting through the courts.

 

CHILDREN MISSING EDUCATION

At St Anne’s RC Primary we believe all students, regardless of their circumstances or background are entitled to a full time education which is suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs.

Pupil absence will be followed up on a daily basis as a matter of priority.  Every child who has a continuous period of absence of three days or more will be required to provide proof of absence; home visits will also be undertaken.

School will follow the Education Attendance Service process when a child has been absent for three or more days without reason, contact will initially be via telephone, followed by a home visit and a letter.  If after 10 school days no contact has been made, school will complete the Child Missing Education (CME) form and forward the schools investigation to the Local Authority, who will then follow their procedures. After a period of 20 days and on completion of all safeguarding checks, a child will be removed from school roll.

School follow Department for Education Statutory guidance, which can be found on the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-missing-education

 

REWARDS

Children who have achieved 100% attendance will be rewarded half termly. Examples of rewards include a tea party, chocolate treats, certificates, stickers and notes home.

 

Once again we thank you for your continued support.

 

Yours sincerely

Mrs A Wainwright

Head of school