Attendance Expectations

At Old Clee Primary Academy we are committed to providing an education of the highest quality for all our children, and making a positive community where all pupils feel valued, welcomed and included. For our children to achieve their full potential we encourage parents and children to understand that every day counts, and by having excellent attendance and arriving at school on time, this will support their achievement. As a school we strive to achieve a goal of at least 98% attendance.

What Old Clee Primary Academy expects from Parents/Carers:

• We expect you to ensure your child attends the Academy every day and on time, and any issues preventing attendance are discussed with a member of the Attendance Team.
• If your child is going to be absent from school, we expect you to contact the Academy before 9am on the first morning of absence.
• Provide medical evidence for absences/ appointments where possible.
• We ask that you inform the Academy office of any changes to contact information.
• To avoid arranging holidays during term time
• To avoid keeping their child away from the Academy for any reason other than illness or other authorised explanation.

What Old Clee Primary Academy expects from pupils:

• To attend regularly and on time
• To be punctual to all lessons
• To ensure all messages and notes from parents/carers are taken to the appropriate place

What you can expect from Old Clee Primary Academy:

• Emphasise that it is the responsibility of everyone in the Academy to improve attendance and punctuality
• Ensure that all pupils access full time education which meets their needs and allows all to realise their potential.
• Strive to provide a safe and caring environment where every child can access all opportunities offered.
• Keep a regular and accurate register of your child’s attendance.
• Contact you using our automated absence system and text if your child is absent and you haven’t provided a reason. We may also call you, or make a home visit.
• Work with children and families to enable every child to have good attendance and punctuality.
• Engage closely with children and families who are considered to be vulnerable and who may give low priority to attendance and punctuality, offering support packages where necessary.
• Promote and encourage good attendance in weekly attendance assemblies.
• Reward children for good attendance.
• Display attendance figures in school for each class.
• Monitor absence, and call or invite you to a meeting in school, or visit you at your home if your child’s attendance falls below 90%.
• Ask you to provide evidence if your child has a poor attendance record.
• Attendance is monitored by the Attendance Lead (Miss J Smith)
• Daily attendance monitoring completed by Mrs N Utley (Admin Assistant)
• Daily absence contact via text/calls are made by the Admin Team and Welfare and Wellbeing Team 
• Strategic attendance approaches are overseen by Miss L Dobbs (SLT).

Encouraging Good Attendance

At Old Clee Primary Academy we understand the impact regular attendance has on your child’s learning and well-being and that having good attendance is directly linked to raising achievement and develops skills for life and work.

We have many initiatives to celebrate and support attendance and we believe that rewarding good attendance and punctuality helps engage and motivate our children.

How we promote and support good attendance and punctuality

We ask all of our children to be an Attendance H.E.R.O (Here Every day Ready On time) and we encourage all children to keep our three attendance promises:

1. I will try my best to come to school every day.
2. I will try my best to arrive on time every day.
3. I will try my best to be prepared for school every day.

Lateness and Punctuality

The doors at Old Clee Primary Academy open at 8.30 am and close at 8.45 am. Once the doors are closed, pupils must arrive through the main entrance.

We monitor pupils who arrive at school after 8.45am with a view to offering potential intervention. All pupils who arrive after 8.45am will be marked as late, pupils who arrive after 9.05am will receive an unathorised late mark, late marks can lead to poor attendance. Arriving after this time can affect your child’s progress. It also disrupts the classroom when lessons have already begun. Therefore, not only must children attend school regularly, but they must not be late.

It is the parent’s responsibility to ensure children are at school on time, if your child is persistently late you may be invited to a meeting to discuss this, or you may be issued with a penalty notice.

Absence

If your child will not be attending school, please inform the school office by 8.45am on the first morning of absence. You can either report the absence through the Teachers2Parents text system or by calling the Academy office on 01472 691887.

If no contact has been made, a member of the Attendance Team or Welfare and Wellbeing Team will contact you for a reason for absence. You may be asked to provide evidence for the absence.

*Please note if your child’s attendance is below 95% you may be contacted by a member of the Attendance Team even if you have informed school about your child’s absence.

Authorised Absence

An authorised absence is when your child has been given permission to be absent from school. Regular reasons for authorised absence are illness, medical and dental appointments, religious observance, exceptional circumstances and exceptional leave (see below). Authorised absence is at the Head Teacher’s discretion and you may be required to provide school with evidence of the absence.

Accepted evidence:

• Appointment card or letter
• Letter or note from GP
• Medication or prescription with correct name and dates
• Comment slip or receipt from the Pharmacy
• Notification from a medical professional

Routine doctor and dental appointments should be booked at the end of the day and during school holidays where possible. We know that sometimes you cannot choose hospital appointments, so please just make sure you only take your child out of school for the appointment and return them to school when they have finished. Your child may be marked as unauthorised for one of the sessions if your child was expected to return to school. Evidence should be provided for all scheduled appointments.

Unauthorised Absence

An unauthorised absence is when no explanation for absence has been given to school, or if the reasons provided doesn’t meet guidelines set out by the Department of Education.

It is important to note that it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure their child attends school regularly, and on time. Regular unauthorised absences can lead to a referral to the Education Welfare Service regarding your child’s poor attendance record. You may be asked to attend an attendance panel meeting. Failure to improve your child’s attendance and engage with the Attendance Lead will result in legal proceedings. If found guilty of failing to secure your child’s regular school attendance you could receive a fine of up to £1000 and a criminal record.

Exceptional Leave

Department of Education states that no child is expected to be absent from school on holiday during term-time. We expect that parents will take their child on holiday during the approved school breaks. It should be noted that there are 175 days each year when a child is on holiday from school which is sufficient time for holidays to be taken.

In exceptional circumstances a Head teacher may permit up to 10 days authorised absence. Most authorised requests are based on a child having an excellent attendance record (in most cases 96% or over), but there can be a degree of flexibility dependent on the circumstances of the request.

If your child needs to leave the area or country and will miss school due to exceptional circumstances during term time, you MUST complete a Leave of Absence request form. All exceptional leave requests MUST be requested at least 10 days prior to leave taking place.

Requests that MAY be considered:

• Bereavement of a close family member
• Participation in a sporting event at city, regional or national level
• Recognised examinations for music or dance
• Other exceptional circumstances agreed on an individual basis by the Head Teacher
•  Religious Observance Holidays – Evidence may be requested

You will NOT be given permission for:

• Availability of cheaper holidays.
• Parent work/shift patterns.
• If your child is in Y1, Y2 & Y6, as these are key year groups for statutory testing & assessment.
• Trips away e.g. (sporting or musical events, day trips, shopping).
• Taking a long weekend away.
• General family celebrations.

If you take your child without permission the following could happen:

You could be referred to the Education Welfare Service, and you may be issued a fine on your return - £80 per parent, £80 per child (e.g. a family of 4, with 2 parents and 2 children would be fined a total of £320). If the fine is not paid in 21 days the fine will increase to £160 per child, £160 per parent (e.g. the family of 4 would now have a fine of £640).

In the case of repeated fines, if a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160.

The Penalty Notice threshold will be reached when a pupil has been recorded as having unauthorised absences for 10 sessions within a 10-school week period. These sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one week) or not (e.g 6 sessions of unauthorised absence taken in 1 week and then 1 per week for the next 4 weeks). The period of of 10 school weeks can also span different terms or school years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in Summer Term and a further 8 within the Autumn Term).

Fines per parent will be capped to two fines within any three-year period. Once this limit has been reached, other action like a parenting order or prosecution will be considered.

If you’re prosecuted and attend court because your child hasn’t been attending school, you could get a fine of up to £2,500.

Failure to pay the fine can result in legal action.

If your child is granted exceptional leave, your child must return to school on the agreed

return date. If they do not we will have no alternative but to start proceedings, registering your child as ‘a child missing education’.