Attendance

School Attendance Matters!

There are strong commitments from the government, our local authority and our school to set initiatives in place to increase school attendance and punctuality. We encourage all our pupils to be an ‘Ace Attender’ by coming to school every day. Our aim is that all pupils will have at least 96% attendance each term.

It is a simple fact that poor attendance hinders progress and prevents pupils from settling well into their class family. We all have a part to play in helping pupils to attend regularly and on time.

Parents

Parents are responsible for making sure their child attends school and risk prosecution if they fail to do so. Please telephone the school by 9.15am if your child is unable to attend.

Schools

Schools are required by law to take a register at the start of morning and afternoon sessions. There are two types of absence marks. An authorised absence mark is given if you inform us of the reason and we feel this is a valid reason for absence. An unauthorised mark is given if you do not inform us or if we feel the reason given is not appropriate for your child to have time away from school. Holidays in term time are unauthorised.

The Education Welfare Officer (EWO)

The Education Welfare Officer (EWO) checks our school registers regularly and will contact parents by letter, telephone or a home visit if there is a cause for concern. The headteacher will request the EWO to make a formal referral of pupils with persistently less than 90% attendance. Parents can ultimately be prosecuted for non-attendance offences.