Eureka Primary School Attendance Policy and Procedures

Rationale

We expect all children on roll to attend every day, when the school is in session, as long as they are fit and healthy enough to do so. We do all we can to encourage the children to attend, and to put in place appropriate procedures. We believe that the most important factor in promoting good attendance is development of positive attitudes towards school. To this end, we strive to make our school a happy and rewarding experience for all children. We will also make the best provision we can for those children who, due to ill health, are prevented from coming to school.

Under the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 1995, the Governing Body are responsible for making sure the school keeps an attendance register that records which pupils are present at the start of both the morning and the afternoon sessions of the school day. This register will also indicate whether the absence was authorised or unauthorised.

ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION

All children should be ready, in class at 8.45am.   The register is taken twice a day at 8.45am and 1.00pm. (A day counts as 2 attendances.)

If a child arrives up to 9.00am, they will be marked in as Late. After 9.00am will be marked as Unauthorised, late after registration. 

It is essential that children arriving and leaving school with a parent / guardian outside the normal hours are signed in or out from the office.

The signing in / out register in the office is used in the case of an emergency or a fire drill.

ILLNESS AND MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS

Effort should be made to arrange medical appointments outside school hours. If it is necessary for a child to be out of school for this reason, the child should be returned to school directly after the appointment. The school office should be informed during the morning of the first day of a child’s absence through illness and then each morning, if appropriate, for the duration of the absence.

DEFINITIONS:

Authorised Absence

An absence is classified as authorised when a child has been away from school for a legitimate reason and the school has received notification from a parent or guardian. For example, if a child has been unwell and the parent writes a note or telephones the school to explain the absence. · Only the school can make an absence authorised. Parents do not have this authority. Consequently, not all absences supported by parents will be classified as authorised. For example, if a parent takes a child out of school to go shopping during school hours, this will not mean it is an authorised absence.

Unauthorised Absence

 An absence is classified as unauthorised when a child is away from school without the permission of the Headteacher.

IF A CHILD IS ABSENT

When a child is absent, the class teacher will record the absence in the register.

The school office will endeavour to contact the parent or guardian, if no message has been received regarding the reason for the absence.

Parents are, however, expected to telephone the school by 9.00am on the morning of the day of absence to inform the school that their child will be absent. They are asked to state a reason.

If there is any doubt about the whereabouts of a child, the class teacher should take immediate action by notifying the school office. The school will then be in contact straight away with the parent or guardian, in order to check on the safety of the child.

THE EDUCATION (PUPIL REGISTRATION) REGULATIONS 1995

Section 8(1) “Leave of absence may only be granted by a person authorised in that behalf by the proprietor of the school”. Section 8(3) of this act gives the school discretionary powers to grant leave of absence for the purpose of annual holiday during term time.

1. in term time are not an entitlement and are strongly discouraged by the Government, Local Authority, the Governors and the school.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE

The Governors recognise that pupil absence during term time can seriously disrupt a pupil’s continuity of learning. The policy on term time is clear. Parents do not have an automatic right to withdraw their child from school for a holiday and must apply for permission in advance. Such holidays are strongly discouraged because they are damaging to the student’s continuity of learning.

Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.

These are:

• Visits to the child’s/children’s parents’ country of origin.
• One or both parents in the armed forces and leave granted prior to deployment.
• Family/carer funeral (1 day maximum)
• Religious Festivals
• Weddings (immediate family only, 1 day maximum)

Parents are therefore strongly urged to avoid booking a family holiday in term time

• All holiday requests should be discussed with the Headteacher before any bookings are made.
• An absence for holiday that has not been agreed by the Headteacher will be recorded as unauthorised.
• For leave of absence not authorized, a Fixed Penalty Notice will be applied for.

• To have a week’s winter or summer holiday in school time, because the cost is cheaper during term time, does not constitute an exceptional circumstance.
• Days overlapping with the beginning or end of term.
• Birthday of pupil or family member.
• Leave of absence cannot be approved retrospectively.

LONG TERM ABSENCE

When children have an illness that means they will be away from school for over five days, the school will do all it can to send material home, so that they can keep up their school work.

The absence is likely to continue for an extended period, or be a repetitive absence, the school will contact the support services, so that arrangements can be made for the child to be given some tuition outside school.

REPEATED UNAUTHORISED ABSENCE

• Unauthorised absences remain on the child’s record and may be reported to the Local Authority’s Education Welfare Officer (EWO)
• Attendance and punctuality are monitored by the EWO and the school. If a child has a repeated number of unauthorised absences, the parents and guardians will be asked to visit the school and discuss the problem.
• The LA has the right to consider taking legal action against any parents or guardians who repeatedly fail to accept their responsibility for sending their children to school on a regular basis.

CHILDREN MISSING FROM EDUCATION

• For children who do not arrive in school and there is no explanation for their absence, school has a duty to carry out relevant searches to find out their whereabouts under the Children Missing in Education Policy.
• By day 11 at the latest, the school will advise the Local Authority of the child’s unauthorised attendance.

Further details can be found in the school’s Children Missing in Education Policy.

REWARDS FOR GOOD ATTENDANCE

The school promotes good attendance with all its pupils. A certificate is awarded each in week, in Friday's assembly, to the class who has the best attendance percentage for that week (Friday - Thursday).  That class are rewarded with an extra break time where they will do games and sporting activities.

ATTENDANCE TARGETS

The school is set a challenging attendance target each year. These targets are agreed by the senior staff, the Chair of Governors and the LA School Improvement Partner at the annual target-setting meeting.

The Headteacher will report on attendance percentages in the termly report to the Governing Body.

MONITORING AND REVIEWING

• It is the responsibility of the governors to monitor overall attendance.
• The Governing Body also has the responsibility for this policy, and for seeing that it is carried out.
• The Governors will therefore examine closely the information provided to them, and seek to ensure that the school’s attendance figures are as high as they should be.
• The school will keep accurate attendance records on file for a minimum period of three years.
• Class teachers will be responsible for monitoring attendance in their class. If they become aware of an unexpected pupil absence during the course of the school day, they will contact the school office immediately. If there is a longer-term general worry about the attendance of a particular child, this will be reported to the Headteacher, who will contact the parents or guardians.
• Termly monitoring will look at the attendance of the whole school, of each class, and of different groups of pupils.
• Individuals who have between 90% and 95% attendance are cause for concern and are monitored closely. Any pupils with attendance of less than 90% in a term are the subject of an Attendance Review with Miss Hurt and their parents/carers.

Listed below are the procedures we go through:

• Letter sent to parent/carer informing them of child’s absence and requesting reasons for it
• First warning letter sent if information of absence is not acceptable
• If attendance is still unacceptable then parent/carer will be called to an Attendance Panel Meeting with Miss Hurt.

• Following this, an action plan is drawn up, and a review done after a further 6 weeks. Immediate referral to the relevant department at County Hall will be made.

Safeguarding Statement

Staff at Eureka believe strongly in providing a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment that promotes the social, moral and physical development of every child.

We believe that the welfare of the child is paramount and recognise that all children, regardless of religious belief, disability, gender and racial heritage should be protected from all types of harm and abuse.

We will endeavour to safeguard children by:

• Adopting rigorous child protection procedures for staff and volunteers.
• Sharing information regarding child protection with parents, staff and relevant