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Attendance Matters
Attendance Matters to each one of our children
In our school, attending every day is really important. It is important because every day there will be new learning, whether that is a new sound in phonics or an exciting investigation in Science and if this is missed it will be not be repeated in that way again. We also know that children need time and practice to consolidate key skills in reading, writing and mathematics and so every day missed is a missed opportunity for your child to embed that skill. This is all ost learning and overtime, poor attendance will have devastating long term consequence for a child's academic outcomes and life chances as well as friendships.
We take a positive approach to attendance in the first instance and reward our children for good attendance. Each class has a virtual ‘piggy bank’ for them to earn money as a result of good attendance. During the school year, the children can decide whether to spend that money on their class or fundraise for a Christian organisation, recognising the implicit Christian nature of our school and our mission to reach out to people through our vision statement of ‘Flourishing Through Friendship.’
This table illustrates the impact of missed school days on a child's attendance:
365 days in each year | 175 NON-school days a year – to spend on family time, visits, holidays, shopping, household jobs and other appointments! | ||||||
190 school days in each year – 190 days for you to learn | 10 days absence | 19 days absence | 29 days absence – ½ a term missed | 38 days absence | 47 days absence | ||
180 days edu-cation | |||||||
171 days of edu-cation | |||||||
161 days of edu-cation | |||||||
152 days of edu-cation | |||||||
143 days of edu-cation | |||||||
100% | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | ||
GOOD Best chance of success! You get off to a flying start! | WORRYING Less chance of success. Makes it harder to make progress. Letter home and Educational Welfare Officer informed. | SERIOUS CONCERN Not fair on you to miss school for all this time. Letter home, EWO informed and possible court action. | |||||
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We also understand that there are times when children are poorly and of course might need a day or two during the school year; the table above shows that these occasional days would not have a significant impact on attendance overall and would not cause the school to be concerned. However, it also shows that more than 10 says absence is a cause for concern and the school have a duty of care to inform the Educational Welfare Officer.
Please also be aware that penalty notices from the Local Authority can be given for not only unauthorised absence for holidays but also for patterns of absence and for short periods of time when attendance falls below 90%. If penalty notices are given and the child’s absence does not improve then Local Authorities have the power to prosecute parents for anything between £1000 to £2500.
Please help us to help your child by not taking them out for holidays, including short breaks and long weekends during school time.