Attendance
Our school promotes positive behaviour and good attendance through a rich curriculum and high-quality learning experiences. Pupils’ good attendance and behaviour are recognised and celebrated appropriately.
All children are expected to be in school by 8:50am every day, unless they are unwell.
Some children may occasionally feel reluctant to attend school. Any attendance concerns are best resolved through open communication between the school, parents/carers, and the child. If your child is reluctant to attend, please contact us as soon as possible. If your child is experiencing anxiety or difficulties, we will work closely together with you to address these concerns and provide appropriate support.
Our attendance policy includes clear procedures designed to promote and safeguard the welfare of all pupils. The school has a legal duty to refer any child who has been absent for 10 days or more, or where there are ongoing concerns, to the Education Welfare Service.
Schools are required to take an attendance register twice daily. This records whether a pupil is present, engaged in an approved off-site activity, or absent. Every absence for a pupil of compulsory school age must be classified as either authorised or unauthorised. Only the school can authorise an absence.
Parents/carers must inform the school of the reason for absence by 9:00am each day. A written explanation must also be provided when the child returns to school. If no contact is made, the school will issue a text or phone call by 9:30am as part of our First Response Procedure, in line with school policy.
Absences may be authorised for valid reasons such as illness or other unavoidable circumstances.
Unauthorised absences are those which the school does not consider reasonable and for which no permission has been given. This may include unexplained or unreported absences.
Parents/carers whose children experience attendance difficulties are encouraged to contact the school at an early stage so that we can work together to resolve any issues. At St Catherine’s, our Attendance Officer, Mrs Sen Selvi, is available at the start of the school day. Parents/carers can also contact her via the main school office to arrange a convenient time to discuss any concerns.
If difficulties cannot be resolved through school support, either the school or parents may refer the child to the local authority Education Welfare Officer (EWO), who will work with families to provide additional support.
Procedures in the event of concern about absence
Members of school staff who are concerned about a child’s attendance should speak to the Headteacher/attendance lead. They will collate:
- The attendance record and attendance % to date (using SIMS management system).
- Any other information gained from speaking to other personnel in the school.
If the Headteacher/attendance lead feels that action should be taken they may:
- Ask an appropriate member of staff (Class Teacher, Parent Support Worker etc) to speak withparents/carers about the concerns.
- Send a letter to the parents/carers asking them to attend an appointment at the school to discuss the issue of attendance further.
Should school staff be unable to successfully contact parents/carers to discuss concerns regarding their child’s attendance, then a referral will be made directly to the Education Welfare Service.
Parents/carers will be notifed of their child’s % attendance figure at the end of the year on their report. Our newsletter includes weekly attendance percentages for each class. An attendance trophy is awarded to the class at our celebration assembly on a Friday. Pupils who have achieved 100% attendance are presented with a certificate at the end the year.
Holidays/Leave of Absence
Following a change to the 2006 regulations – the Statutory Instruments 2013 No.756: The Education (Pupil Registration) England (Amendment) Regulations 2013 – Head Teachers are no longer able to grant requests for holidays to be taken by pupils during school time, unless in exceptional circumstances. In exceptional circumstances parents can apply to the school for a request form (also available at the bottom of this document), which must be completed and returned to school explaining the reasons for the request – at least two weeks prior to the dates requested.
Holidays in Term Time
Holidays should only be taken during school holidays.
Due to changes in the Education Act, regulations under, Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) 2013 Regulations: The legislation states that as from September 2013, schools cannot authorize any leave of absence during term time unless they deem it to be an exceptional circumstances.
If you believe that your case may be deemed as “exceptional”, please fill in a leave of absence form. For example:
- If the child is taking an exam in music or dance or is attending a sporting event where they are representing the county we would need to see official evidence of the date and time the child is required to be there;
- We will still be taking the child’s attendance into account and it will need to be on target for authorisation to be considered.
St. Catherine’s do not consider exceptional leave to include reasons such as; ‘convenience or value for money holiday’. However, each exceptional leave request will be considered on it’s own merits by the Headteacher, bearing special circumstances in mind, current attendance figures and amount of previous requests.
The Local Authority may issue parents who take children on unauthorised term time holidays with a penalty notice. Any unauthorised holiday may result in a penalty notice fine of £60 per parent per child (which will be increase to £120 if not paid within 21 days and due by 28 days) being issued by the Local Authority.
The Penalty Notice will be issued in line with the Local Code of Conduct section 11 that states that a Penalty Notice may be issued: “Where a parent has taken the pupil on holiday during term time without the school’s authorisation or (in cases where the school has authorised absence) has failed to return the pupil to school on the date agreed with the school”.
Our Inclusion Leader and Attendance Officer – Mrs Selvi, will be available to discuss special circumstances for leave.
Conclusion
St. Catherine’s endeavours in every way possible to encourage and promote excellent attendance. Certificates are issued to children with excellent attendance and individual class are award weekly attendance trophies to motivate and encourage pupils to value their attendance. All end of year reports to parents include a copy of the child’s attendance record. Either very good or poor attendances are noted by the Senior Leadership Team and a written remark may be made on the report.
For further guidance, please see our Attendance Leaflet here.
Exceptional Leave of Absence Request
Attendance Gallery
