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Vale View Primary School

Vale ViewPrimary School

Attendance

Statement of Intent

At Vale View we are committed to the continuous raising of achievement of all our pupils.  Regular attendance is critical if our pupils are to be successful and benefit from the opportunities presented to them.  Good attendance is fundamental to a successful and fulfilling school experience.

In partnership with parents we have a duty to promote good attendance.  

Parental Responsibility

Parents have a legal duty to ensure that their children attend school regularly and arrive on time.  Regular attendance is essential to the all-round development of the child and they should be allowed to take full advantage of educational opportunities available to them in order to make good progress in their learning.  

Why is attendance important?

Attending school on a regular basis is the key to your child doing well at school and sets them up with good habits from an early age through to adulthood and the working world.

It also gives children the opportunity to:

  • Make friends and feel included
  • boost social skills, confidence and self-esteem
  • develop the skills to learn new things
  • achieve their full potential
  • improve their prospects

Small changes can make a big difference

Parents are advised to:

  • Show your child that you think school is important
  • Not keep your child off school if they are worried or have a problem – you should come and talk to the school
  • Praise you child’s achievements
  • Recognise that if your child gets into bad habits from an early age, these are hard to break later in life

How good is your child’s attendance?

All pupils are expected to attend regularly to be able to access and achieve their full potential at school.  It is accepted that some of our pupils have medical conditions which may impact on their attendance; it is important that school understand how we can support children with medical needs and ask that you discuss your child's individual needs with our SENDco Mr Vellani.

90% attendance might sound good, but…

90% attendance is the same as:

½ day missed each week

20 days in each school year

A full month out of school

So, 90% is not as good as it first seems.

 

Days off school add up to lost learning

 175 Non school days a year             175 days to spend on family time, visits, holidays, shopping, household,               jobs and other appointments

190 days in school days in each year

 

190 days for your child’s education

 

10 days absence

 

19 days of absence

 

29 days absence Half a term missed

 

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

97 – 100%

Excellent

Less than 96%

Be aware

90% Be Aware

85% Worrying

80% Serious Concern

75% Very Serious Concern

Best chance of success.  Gets your child off to a flying start.

School Monitors

Less than expected level of attendance

WORRYING

Less chance of success

Makes it harder to progress

SERIOUS CONCERN

Not fair on your child

Referral To Early Help and/or KCC School Liaison Officer may be considered

Being late also adds up to a loss of learning

  • If your child is 5 minutes late every day that adds up to over 3 days lost over each year.
  • 10 minutes late every day adds up to over 6 lost days each year
  • 15 minutes late is the same as being absent 2 weeks each year.

Late arrival to school

When your child arrives late at school, he/she misses the teacher’s instructions and the introduction to the lesson.  Your child may also feel embarrassed at having to enter the classroom late.  In EYFS and KS1 children may also miss their daily phonics session which can impact very negatively on their Reading development.

Please help your child to be punctual.

What can I do to increase my child’s attendance?

  • Only keep your child at home for genuine illness.
  • Book appointments after school or during the holidays.  Attend school before or after appointments, do not take the whole day off.
  • Avoid taking holidays in school time.
  • Parents and carers have a responsibility to make sure that their children attend school regularly, on time and receive a full-time education.

It is the law

A child registered at school can legally only miss schools in very limited circumstances.  These are:

  • When your child is really too unwell to attend
  • When the school have authorised the absence beforehand.

If your child is missing without good reason, schools and local authorities have a number of legal powers that they can use.

Authorised Absences include:

  • Genuine illness resulting with seeing a doctor
  • Religious observance
  • Family bereavement

Unauthorised absences include

  • Holidays and family outings
  • Traffic
  • Unable to get child to school
  • Birthday celebrations
  • Oversleeping
  • Parent appointments or ill health
  • Sibling appointments or ill health
  • Waiting for a delivery
  • Waiting for a builder, plumber, electrician
  • No uniform or uniform not ready
  • Shopping

In cases of illness, parents are asked to telephone the school on 01304 202821 and speak to a member of the office team or leave a message on the absence line. Please remember to give specific details of the illness because “poorly/unwell” is not sufficient.  If school have not been notified of your child's absence we operate a 'first day calling' system whereby we make contact with parents to ascertain the reason for absence - if we are not successful in identifying a reason for a child's absence we may make a home visit.

If the absence continues please keep the school updated. A note confirming the reason for absence should be sent in with your child upon their return to school.

Requesting Absence from School

Any request for absence must be made in writing with an explanation of why the absence is being requested, the start and end dates and the reason for the absence.  From 1 September 2013, headteachers have been unable to agree leave of absence during term time unless they are satisfied there are exceptional circumstances and authorised absence cannot be given retrospectively.  Please give sufficient time for your request to be considered or the absence will be unauthorised.

If you require any advice, support or guidance, please contact the School Office.

Our attendance policy can be found below.