Regular attendance is essential to ensure uninterrupted progress and to enable children to exceed their potential, we actively involve the children in achieving this by holding weekly assemblies to celebrate excellent attendance. Certificates are awarded termly and yearly for all children who achieve 100%. 

Good attendance is important because …. 

  • Your child needs to be in the academy to be able to learn and achieve. 
  • Lessons are taught in a sequence and it can be difficult to catch up if a lesson is missed. 
  • children  need to build relationships with others and form lasting friendships. 
  • Children need to build the confidence to attempt new work and to work alongside others. 

Good attendance is a criteria set for rewards and Leading Learner Badges. 

 Please remember if your child is late it counts as part of their attendance record.  

What is good attendance? 

Our academy target is 96.5% attendance which is no more than 7 days of absence each school year. 

Non-attendance is authorised if: 

  • Your child is too ill and we receive a note or an appointment card from a Doctor or Healthcare professional. 
  • They have a medical appointment that cannot be arranged outside of academy hours (please bring your appointment card to the academy) 
  • There is an exceptional reason and you have received permission from the academy in advance. 

If your child is absent please inform the academy by telephoning the office before 9.00am on the first day of absence. 

What happens if my child’s attendance is not good? 

Attendance records are monitored daily, the academy will call home to establish the reason for the absence. If your child is not attending the academy without a good reason you will be invited to discuss the problem with the academy and we would work with you to resolve any issues you may be experiencing.  

Who can help me if I am having problems getting my child to school? 

  • Your child’s class teacher 
  • Mrs Hutchinson  – Attendance Officer 

Term time leave of absence 

From September 2013 the law has changed and now states that parents do not have the right to take their child out of school for holidays in term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.   

Examples of exceptional circumstances: 

  • A member of the service personnel who is prevented from taking holidays outside term time. 
  • Acute family crisis  
  • Court Order/Formal Agreement 

We ask parents to recognise that pupil absence during term time can seriously affect a pupil’s learning. Parents are therefore strongly urged to avoid booking family holidays during term time. By law parents have to apply for permission in advance from the school. If your request is not covered by exceptional circumstances and you take your children out of school unauthorised we are required to inform the Local Authority who may then issue a Penalty Notice fine of £60, per child, per adult per week to be paid within 21 days, if no payment is received the Penalty Notice will increase to £120 to be paid to the Local Authority within 28 days. 

Please note we do not receive any money from sanctions and they are never used as a punishment, only as a means of enforcing attendance. 

Remember it is the law that all children must be at school from their 5th birthday.  

If your child’s attendance starts to slip, a plan will be put into place and our attendance team will work with you in order for you to achieve targets set for your child to raise their attendance to our expected level. 

Was this article helpful?