Aireborough Cluster Family of Schools
Attendance Policy
Context and background
Excellent attendance and engagement in school and education settings are the key to ensuring that children and young people have the best life chances and opportunities. As a cluster we strongly believe that having access to and receiving a good education is the best way we have to ensure that all children achieve the best possible outcome, empowering them to make the best and most positive choices about their future lives. It is the responsibility of all schools, parents/carers and the pupils to work in partnership to ensure that all our children and young people receive an appropriate education suitable to their needs.
Research findings and learning from best practice shows that:
- Children must attend regularly to achieve their full potential
- Children who miss out on school can feel vulnerable and left behind
- Leave in term time is disruptive and can seriously affect your child’s education.
- On average children who consistently miss 17 or more days in a school year lose one full grade in their GCSE’s
- Unauthorised absence can lead to prosecution
The following shows the link between % attendance at school and number of days absent.
98%=less than 4 days absent in one school year
95%=less than 10 days absent in one school year
90%=4 weeks (20 days) absent in one school year
85%=5½ weeks (28 days) absent in one school year
80%=7½ weeks (38 days) absent in one school year
Over a period of 5 school years children with an average attendance of 85-90% will have missed half a school year of education while children with an average attendance of 80% over the same period will have missed a whole school year.
Parents/Carers do not have the right to remove their children from school during term time without prior permission and agreement by the Head Teacher or those granted that level of authorisation by the Head Teacher. This policy outlines the process by which parents/carers can request leave under exceptional circumstances for their child/ren. In addition this policy provides clear procedures regarding absence through illness.
This policy follows the latest Government legislation and guidelines and is the culmination of detailed consultation with Leeds City Council. It has been developed and agreed by the Aireborough Family of Schools to ensure consistency, fairness and clear decision making in relation to school attendance and absence.
Individual School Introduction
Tranmere Park Primary School recognises that positive behaviour, engagement with learning and good attendance arecentral to raising standards and pupil attainment.This school policy is written with the above context and background statement in mind and this policy underpins our schoolethos of:
‘Everyone included, everyone special’
We will strive to provide a warm, welcoming environment, whereby each member of the school community feels secure and valued.
For our children to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attendregularly and be at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for theabsence is unavoidable.Any absence affects the pattern of a child’s schooling and regular absence will seriouslyaffect their learning. In addition any pupil’s absence or later arrival disrupts teaching routines and somay affect the learning of others in the same class.Ensuring a child’s regular attendance at school is a parental responsibility and permittingabsence from school without a good reason creates an offence in law and may result inprosecution.
Promoting Regular Attendance:
Helping to create a pattern of regular attendance is everybody’s responsibility –by taking this approach we encourage a positive partnership between parents/carers,pupils and all members of school staff.
To help us all to focus on this we will:
- Give parents/carers details on attendance in our weekly newsletter
- Report to parents/carers termly on their child’s attendance and our school target
- Aim to build and maintain positive partnerships with parents regarding punctuality and attendance issues
Understanding types of absence
Every half-day absence from school has to be classified by the school (not by the parents), as either AUTHORISED or UNAUTHORISED. This counts as one session.
This is why information about the cause of anyabsence is always required.
Authorised absences are morning or afternoon sessions away from school for a legitimate reason for example, illnesses, medical/dental appointments which unavoidably fall in school time, emergencies orother unavoidable cause including time off following a loss or bereavement.
Unauthorised absences are those which the school does not consider reasonable and forwhich no “leave" has been granted. This type of absence can lead to the Authority usingsanctions and/or legal proceedings.
Unauthorised absence includes:
- Parents/carers keeping children off school unnecessarily
- Truancy before or during the school day
- Absences which have never been properly explained
- Children who arrive at school too late to get a mark, after register closes
Whilst any child may be off school because they are ill, sometimes they can be reluctant toattend school. Any problems with regular attendance are best sorted out between theschool, the parents and the child. If a parent thinks their child is reluctant to attend schoolthen we will work with that family to understand the root problem. In addition where health problems are recurrent or linked with reluctance or anxiety over school attendance we can use outsideagencies to help with this such as the School Nurse – and have access to emotional wellbeing services appropriate to all ages of children.
Persistent Absenteeism (PA):
Parents are expected to contact school at an early stage and to work with the staff inresolving any problems together to avoid persistent absenteeism. This is nearly always successful. A pupil becomes a ‘persistent absentee’ when they miss 15% or more schooling across theschool year for whatever reason. As outlined at the outset of this policy absence at this level is doing considerable damage to anychild’s education and we need the parents/carers fullest support and co-operation to tackle this.
We monitor all absence and the reasons given thoroughly. Any case that is seen to havereached the PA mark or is at risk of moving towards that mark is given priority and we willinform the parents/carers immediately.PA pupils are tracked and monitored carefully we also combine this with academic trackingwhere absence affects attainment.
Repeated absence due to illness
If a child’s attendance drops below 85% and school have concerns in regards to the level of illness, the school will refer the pupil to the Cluster Allocations Team for advice and support. If attendance continues to be a concern then this may lead to the school not authorising any absence unless there is medical evidence provided by parents/carers.
Exceptional Leave
Parents do not have the right to remove their children from school during term time. We are committed to ensuring that children attend school unless there is an unavoidable reason for them not to - we recognise that in some exceptional circumstances parents may request leave during term-time and these requests will be considered as follows:
- The Head Teacher will decide whether or not the absence should be authorised and the number of days.
- Leave in term time will only be considered if parents or carers make a request to the school prior to the leave being taken giving the exceptional reasons why the leave in term time has been requested. (please be aware commonleave requests that are not regarded as exceptional circumstances, includefamily holidays, grandmas special birthday and family weddings abroad)
Statutory Guidelines and Fixed Penalty Notices
Under the latest Government Legislation parents/carers who take their children out of school during term time without authorisation, may be issued with a fixed penalty fineand could face possible prosecution in court.
Fines are now issued on the following basis:
Upto £120 per child and per adult responsible for that child for each unauthorised absence period. (This includes where parents/carers live in separate households but remain legally responsible for their child/ren).
To provide an example, a maximum fine for one period of unauthorised absence – in a household where there are two adults and two children could result in the following: £120 x 2 children x 2 adults = £480.00
Failure to pay would result in a court hearing.
Continued and ongoing concerns regarding attendance
If attendance continues to be of concern and there are a number of unauthorised absences then this may lead to a referral made to the Aireborough Extended Services Cluster Allocations Team meeting, which is a multiagency meeting where concerns/needs are discussed and appropriate support is then offered by a range of agencies. If the referral is agreed at this panel then the Attendance Improvement Officer may contact parents and carers to discuss the barriers that are preventing their child from attending school.
Ultimately parents and carers can be held to account for failing to ensure their children attend regularly and this may result in referring the matter to the Magistrates Court. Targeted Services carry out this statutory function on behalf of the local authority in order to uphold the rights of children and young people to their education.
Where necessary, statutory action can and will be taken, which may take the form of a penalty notice, prosecution of parents in Magistrates court resulting in a fine, a fine/imprisonment in the case of an Aggravated Offence, or a statutory parenting order (attendance). The family court can impose an Education Supervision Order for a maximum of 12 months but can be extended up to 3 years as appropriate.
Absence Procedures
If your child is absent the parent/carer must follow the following procedures:
Contact school as soon as possible on the first day of absence.
The school hasan answer phone available to leave a message if nobody is available to take the call
Or they can call into school and report to reception.
If your child is off for a pre-planned medical or dental appointment please make sure school are aware in advance with the appointment card/letter
If your child is absent we will:
Telephone or text you on the first day of absence if we have not heard from you;
Invite you in to discuss the situation with the headteacher if absences persist;
Refer the matter to the Cluster Allocations Team meeting, where there are ongoing and continued concerns about the impact of absence on your child.
Lateness
Poor punctuality is not acceptable. If a child misses the start of the day they can miss workand do not spend time with their class teacher getting vital information and news for theday.
Late arriving pupils also disrupt lessons;it can be embarrassing for the child and canalso encourage absence. Good time keeping is a vital life skill which will help our childrenas they progress through their school life and out into the wider world.
How we manage lateness
The school day starts at 8.55amwhen the doors are openedand we expect our children to be here ready to come in.Registers are marked by 9.05amand your child will receive a late mark if they are not in by that time. Any late arrivals must enter school via the front office and children must be signed in by a parent/carer with the reason for lateness recorded.
At 9.15 amthe registers will be closed. In accordance with the Regulations, if your childarrives after that time they will receive a mark that shows them to be on site, but this willnot count as a present mark and it will mean they have an unauthorised absence for that session.
If your child has a persistent late record you will be asked to meet with the Headteacher toresolve the problem, but you can approach us at any time if you are having problemsgetting your child to school on time.
Summary
The school has a legal duty to publish its absence figures to parents and to promoteattendance. Equally, parents have a duty to make sure that their children attend. This duty is to underpin the positive outcomes that result from good attendance, engagement and behaviour in approved education settings for your child/ren.
This policy has set out to encourage and support good attendance as a partnership between school, parents/carers and child. It does nonetheless make clear and transparent the consequences of unauthorised absences and why these are best avoided.
All school staff are committed to working with parents and pupils and see this as the best way to ensureas high a level of attendance as possible.
Written – January 2014
Agreed by Family of Schools and Targeted Services –
To be reviewed – April 2015