Attendance
School Attendance
The Federation of Holy Trinity Church of England Schools is committed to creating a welcoming community of faith, where pupils can learn and flourish together. Each day opens up new opportunities, a fresh start bringing horizons of hope, aspiration and joy! Our Attendance procedures are inclusive and are designed to support the way in which all members of the school can learn and flourish together; this is core to our positive approach to managing attendance.
Our Attendance Policy aims to promote a high level of shared commitment to ensure regular and prompt attendance in school. Our attendance strategy aims to create a culture in which the impact of good attendance on well-being and academic attainment of our pupils is celebrated.
We are committed to meeting our obligation about school attendance through our whole school approach that values good school attendance, including:
- Promoting good attendance
- Ensuring every child has access to full-time education
- Building and maintaining a strong relationship with families to enable targeted support to better school attendance
- Reducing absence, including persistent and severe absence
- Acting early to address patterns of absence
- Promoting the importance of arriving to school and lessons on time to support punctuality
Why is regular attendance at school important?
Regular school attendance will mean that your child has a better chance in life. Your child will achieve better when they go to school all day, every school day as they:
- learn better
- make friends
- are happier
- have a brighter future.
The Government regard 95% as the minimum satisfactory attendance for a school pupil.
Our school attendance target is at least 97%.
Days off school add up to lost learning. Please don’t let your children miss out on the education they deserve.
How does your child compare?
|
Attendance during one school year |
equals this number of days absent |
which is approximately this many weeks absent |
which means this number of lessons missed |
|---|---|---|---|
|
95% |
9 days |
2 weeks |
50 lessons |
|
90% |
19 days |
4 weeks |
100 lessons |
|
85% |
29 days |
6 weeks |
150 lessons |
|
80% |
38 days |
8 weeks |
200 lessons |
We monitor attendance closely and contact parents to inform them and offer support where attendance has dropped and causes concern.
We are always happy to work with families to support and improve attendance.
Absence reporting procedures
If your child is absent from school due to illness, please telephone school on 01765 602858 and inform the office staff no later than 8.45am. If your child’s illness lasts for more than one day, you must phone school daily and inform us why your child is still absent. If your child’s illness lasts longer than 48hrs and you have not already done so, we advise you to seek medical attention.
Safe and Well Home Visits
If your child is absent from school, you do not inform school and we cannot make contact, a member of the leadership team may visit your home to check all is well and ask why your child is absent from school. It is very important that you contact school and inform us why your child is absent. If we do not hear from you, we will be concerned and may make a referral to outside agencies.
It is a parent/carer’s legal responsibility to ensure their children receive appropriate education. Failing to send your child to school regularly without good reason is a criminal offence. If your child's level of absence is a concern, school will offer advice and support to improve attendance.
Term - time absence
Head teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Unauthorised absence of this nature will be subject to a fine. The Executive Headteacher will determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted. Should there be any exceptional circumstances, please make an appointment to discuss them with the Executive Headteacher before making any bookings.
Lateness
As you may be aware, the law treats some persistent lateness in the same way as irregular attendance and parents may be prosecuted by the local authority if late arrival is not resolved.
| Minutes Late per day During the School Year | Equals Days Worth of Teaching Lost in a Year |
|---|---|
| 5 mins | 3.4 days |
| 10 mins | 6.9 days |
| 15 mins | 10.3 days |
| 20 mins | 13.8 days |
| 30 mins | 20.7 days |
Poor punctuality can lead to your child…
- Feeling embarrassed in front of their friends
- Missing the beginning of vital lessons
- Missing important instructions for the rest of the school day
- Learning bad habits which could affect their employability in the future
A pupil who arrives late:
- Before the register has closed, it will be marked as late, using the appropriate code.
- After the register has closed, it will be marked as absent, using the appropriate code.
- The school will use the [U] code for arrivals after 30 minutes from the start of the session. The U code will affect your child's attendance and this could lead to a monitoring process.
For more information on attendance at school please read our Attendance policy below.