Ruskininfant School and Nursery

RUSKININFANT SCHOOL AND NURSERY

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Revision Date: January 2017
Revised by: Louise Parrott and Julia Burgess
To be Reviewed: January 2019

RUSKININFANT SCHOOL AND NURSERY

ATTENDANCE POLICY

INTRODUCTION

Regular attendance at school is essential to promote the education of all pupils. The School’s positive ethos demonstrates that children feel that their presence in school is important, that they are missed when they are absent or late. The School will take appropriate action when necessary in order to promote the aims of the policy.

AIMS

To maximise attendance of all children in order that it be at least 95%.
To provide an environment which encourages regular attendance and makes attendance and punctuality a priority for all those associated at the school.
To monitor and support children whose attendance is a cause for concern and work in partnership with parents and carers to resolve any difficulty.
To analyse attendance data regularly to inform future policy and practice.
To work closely and make full use of the support from the wider community including the EducationInclusion and Partnership Team and multi-agency teams.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBLITIES

The following people have key responsibilities in the pursuit of high levels of attendanceand punctuality:

Parents

Ensure that children attend school regularly (at least95% of the time).
Inform us by calling or texting (07797 801 419) the school by 9.30 am on each dayof absence (or by 1.00 pm for afternoon nursery sessions) giving specific reason why their child is absent and indicating how long they might be away from school.
For nursery parents, understand that if their child’s attendance falls below 80% that the place may be withdrawn.
When children have been ill, ensure that they return to school as quickly as possible once they are no longer infectious.
If a child’s attendance falls below 95% attend Attendance Meetings with the Headteacher/Deputy Headteacher and Parent Support Advisor. To set a target for improvement and a plan of action to support their child’s attendance.

Governors

To set targetsin cooperation with the Headteacher and to monitor progress towards annual targets for attendance.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the Attendance Policy.

Headteacher

To ensure that effective systems are in place to accurately reflect individual pupil and group and whole school attendance patterns.
To monitor individual pupil, group and whole school attendance and punctuality.
To work in partnership with key agencies if attendance and / or punctuality is an issue.
To provide Governors with information to enable them to evaluate the success of policy and practice.
To arrange contact with parents/carers regarding any concerns about their child’s attendance.
To arrange meetings with the school’s Parent Support Advisor and parents/carers to discuss support and set targets for those experiencing attendance difficulties.

Class Teacher

To provide an accurate record of the attendance of each child in their class.
To record the reasons for absence given to them on the appropriate recording sheet.
To respond promptly to any issue raised in the weekly analysis of registers by Office Staff.
To organise work to be sent home for children in their class who are expected to be absent for an extended period through sickness or through a temporary exclusion of up to five days.
To discuss with parents when their child’s attendance is at a concerning level or reasons for absence have not been given.
To discuss with their class on a weekly basis attendance and how they are getting on as a class making use of the attendance diamond.
To carryout and/or support activities which support good attendance e.g. 100% attendance events.

Parent Support Advisor

To meet regularly with the Headteacherand/or another member of the SLT to discuss attendance issues.
To meet with parents/carers to address attendance issues and to set targets for short term improvements.
To keep detailed records of intervention work with parents/carers on attendance issues.
Where there is lack of progress towards improving attendance the Headteacher andEducationInclusion Partnership will review the case with the Parent Support Advisor.
To provide the class teachers with their classes attendance figures on a weekly basis.
To carryout and/or support activities which support good attendance e.g. 100% attendance events.

Office Staff

To prepare, manage and co-ordinate the use of the SIMS Attendance Manager System.
To monitor and track attendance patterns for all children and prepare relevant attendance reports when necessary.
To contact parents/carers on the first day of their child’s absence to establish the reason.
To ensure that a satisfactory reason for every absence has been established for each child at the end of each week.
To make a judgement in conjunction with the Headteacher/Deputy Headteacher whether an absence is authorised or unauthorised.
To support the Parent Support Advisor in preparing reports for the fortnightly attendance reviews and sending out letters to parents to address poor attendance and punctuality.
To record in the late book reasons for children’s lateness.

Education Inclusion and Partnership Team

To enforce the law regarding school attendance.
To support the whole school response to attendance through regular meetings and monitoring individual children’s attendance.
To act as a source of advice and guidance in matters of attendance.

ADMINISTRATION

The School uses Attendance Manager provided by SIMS to store and monitor its legal responsibilities in relation to attendance.
Registers are a vital legal document and teachers are required by their contractual duties to take an attendance register at the beginning of both the morning and afternoon sessions. Registers are returned to the School Office after the closure of the registration period.
Registers must be completed carefully and accurately, as they provide a record of a pupil’s attendance. Failure to complete a register accurately leaves the school vulnerable to complaint from parents or carers and constitutes a risk if an emergency evacuation has to take place.

ABSENCE

Lateness

Pupils arriving after the register has been closed at 9.00 am, will be considered as late.
Pupils arriving after 9.00 am must report to the School Office so that their attendance can be recorded.
Pupils arriving after 9.30 am will be officially absent for the morning session.This will be considered an unauthorised absence unless asatisfactory reason is given, for example a doctor’s appointment.
Pupils who attend the nursery will be marked as late if they arrive between 8.45-9.15am or 12.45-1.15pm. Children will lose the mark for the whole session if they arrive after9.15 am or 1.15pm depending on whether your child attends the morning or afternoon session.

Action to address lateness will be taken in line with the school’s strategy to improve punctuality.

Illness

Parents/carers are asked to contact the school on the first day of absence to provide the reason for the absence and where possible on each subsequent day of absence.
Where Office Staff are not made aware of the reason for a child’s absence they will, wherever possible, contact parents/carers by telephone on the first day of absence. If no reason has been provided for a child’s absence by the following Monday teachers will ask parents for an absence reason. If no reason is given a letter will be sent asking for a reason. If no contact has been made by the third week after the date of the letter the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.
If any member of staff is concerned about a reason for absence, the Deputy Headteacher or Headteacher should be informed.

Medical or Dental Appointments

Absence from school due to a medical or dental appointment will be considered as an authorised absence. Parents/carers are requested to provide written confirmation of these appointments.
Parents/carers are encouraged to make all medical appointments out of school hours where ever possible.
A whole day of absence will not be sanctioned unless the medical treatment being given requires it and a medical letter has been received.

Holidays during Term Time

Holidays taken during term time will not be authorised by the school. Any application for leave must only be in exceptional circumstances and the Headteacher must be satisfied that the circumstances are exceptional and warrant the granting of leave.

This is to support the raising of attainment of the children within this school and across the county. This discourages parents from taking pupils out of school during term time which has a negative impact on children’s learning.

If holidays and absences for other family reasons are taken within term time parents could be fined for taking their child on holiday during term time without the consent of the school. This could result in the case being referred to the Education Inclusion Partnership and also result in prosecutionand/or a fixed penalty notice from the local authority if attendance drops to a concerning level.

Children Not in School

Absences are followed up by a phone call on the first day of absence by office staff.
If the school have received no contact from the parents after 10 days a home visit will be completed by the Parent Support Advisor and another member of school staff. Following the home visit if no contact has been made with the family a child missing from education referral will be made to the Education Inclusion and Partnership Team.
Children will only be taken off roll once the receiving school has made contact or the Education Inclusion and Partnership Team have asked us to do so.
Unexplained absence will be followed up by a phone call on the first day and the class teachers will also ask parents directly for the reasons for absence if we have not received a reason the following week after the absence. If no reason has been provided after 10 school days a letter will be sent home requesting a reason for absence and if no reason is provided the absence will be marked as unauthorised.

Other Absence

Other absence from school will be considered on an individual basis and a decision will be made to authorise or unauthorise the absence. Any other planned absence must be applied for at least six weeks in advance.

REPORTING TO PARENTS AND CARERS

All absences both authorised, unauthorised absence and lateness will be reported to the parent/carer at the end of the academic year.

In order to give parents/carers a benchmark to their child’s attendance to other children in the school and nationally the following grades will be used:

REWARDS

Children who achieve 100% attendance are presented with a certificate at the end of each term (six week period).
Good and improved attendance is rewarded in a tangible way with, for example, positive comments, certificates and stickers.

ATTENDANCE CODES

The following codes will be used to indicate the reason for absence:

L-Late (between 9.00 am and 9.30 am or after 9.30 am if authorised)
U-Late (after 9.30 am – unauthorised absence)
M-Medical – hospital admission, dental, optician, hospital, doctors.
C-Other authorised absence, bereavement, family reasons.

I-Illness
H-Family holiday (agreed)

G-Family holiday (not agreed)
O-Unauthorised absence

E-Excluded

R-Religious Observance

V-Educational visit / school trip

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Attendance data will be collected termly (approximately every 2 weeks) to establish patterns of irregular attendance.This will include children with: incomplete weeks; Monday and Friday absences; lateness; periods of extended absence; periods of unauthorised; and all children with attendance below 95%. This data will be discussed by the Headteacher/Deputy Headteacher and Parent Support Advisor as part of the regular review meetings.

The EducationInclusion and Partnership Team may meet with the Headteacher/ Deputy Headteacher and Parent Support Advisor on an annual bases.
The Headteacher andEducation Inclusion and Partnership Team will discuss the impact of the School’s Attendance Policy and the strategies used to promote good attendance annually and the Headteacher will recommend an attendance target to the Governors.
Early in the autumn term a representative governor and the Headteacher will set an annual target of attendance and persistent absence and review this annually at its first meeting.
The Education Inclusion and Partnership Team will work intensively with parents of pupils who have not responded positively to interventions where pupil attendance:

a)Has an accumulation of unauthorised absence leading to an attendance of 85% or less

b)18 sessions of unauthorised absence in the last 6 weeks

10 consecutive days unauthorised absence
Parents will be asked to comment/give reasons why their child has arrived late at school.
A governor will visit the regular attendance meeting at least twice per year to help evaluate the success of the school’s attendance policy and practices.
Feedback on attendance figures and the success of the strategies in place to improve pupil attendance will be shared with the rest of the governing body by the attending governor.

Ruskin Infant School and Ruskin Academy synchronize our policies; although the wording of each policy may be different they have the same standard.
RUSKININFANT SCHOOL & NURSERY

APPENDICES

Application to request Annual Leave during term time.

Letter to parents declining authorisation for leave during time

Letter to parents authorising request for leave during term time

Unexplained Absence Letter

Continued Absence Letter

Letter to parents regarding lateness.

Nursery Traffic light letter

Late Letter Nursery

Target Achieved Letter

Letter 1 – Absence Falling

Letter 2 – First invite to a meeting

Letter 3 – second invite to a meeting

Letter 4 – Warning refer to EIP re: Poor Attendance

Warning Letter referral to EIP re: Holiday Fine

RUSKININFANT SCHOOL AND NURSERY

APPLICATION FOR LEAVE DURING TERM TIME

Child’s Name / Class Teacher

I request permission for the above named child(ren) to be absent from school on the following dates:

First day of absence: / Last day of absence:
The reason for this request is:

In line with the school’s attendance policy, I understand that approval for leave of absence during term time will normally not be authorised unless the leave is due to extenuating circumstances.

Signed: …………….………………………………. Parent/carer Date: …… / …… / ……

For Office Use Only:

Pupil Name / % Attendance
this year / % Attendance
last year

Approved: Yes/No SIMS Attendance Updated:  Parent /Carer Informed: 

Signed ...... Headteacher Date ...... /...... /......

Date

Dear Parent/Carer of:

APPLICATION FOR LEAVE DURING TERM TIME

Thank you for submitting a request for leave during term time for your child(ren). Having given your application careful consideration, I am writing to inform you that on this occasion the school cannot authorise your request for leave during term time.

As you may know as of 1st September 2013, the law prevents Headteachers from granting any leave of absence during term time, unless there are exceptional circumstances. A family holiday during term time does not fall into the category of ‘exceptional circumstances’.

If your child is absent during the dates you have requested, I must inform you that this absence will be considered as unauthorised and the case may be referred to the Education Inclusion and Partnership Team. If your child’s attendance falls to a concerning level or the leave exceeds 10 consecutive days. This may result in you receiving a Penalty Notice of £120 per parent/adult for each student reducing to £60 for early payment. This would require payment being made directly to the Local Authority within 21 days.

Non payment will mean that the Penalty notice will rise to £120 after 21 days but within 28 days of receipt. If the penalty has not been paid within 28 days of issue the Local Authority may instigate legal proceedings under section 444(1) of the education act 1996. If found guilty of an offence under this Act, parents will receive a criminal record and could be fined up to £1000.

If you have any questions please feel free to call our Parent Support Advisor for clarification on 01933 675430.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Catherine Starnes

Headteacher

Date

Dear Parent/Carer of:

APPLICATION FOR LEAVE DURING TERM TIME

Thank you for submitting a request for leave during term time for your child(ren).

Having given your application careful consideration, I am writing to inform you that on this occasion, the school have decided to authorise your request for leave during term timedue to the exceptional circumstances.

Please can I use this opportunity to remind you that no holidays during term time will be authorised by the school. This is to support the raising of attainment of the children within the school and the county.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Catherine Starnes

Headteacher

Date

Dear Parent/Carer of:

UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE

We have tried to contact you today regarding the absence of your child: ………………………., but were unable to get a reply. One of the school’s aims is to improve attendance, and in doing so improve your child’s learning. It is therefore important that the school is notified, by 9.30 am at the latest, whenever your child is absent from school.

I would appreciate it if you would contact us as soon as possible to explain why he/she is absent from school, either by telephone or by completing the slip at the end of this letter. If no reason is provided your child’s absence will be marked as unauthorised.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Catherine Starnes

Headteacher

 ------

PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN TO YOUR CHILD’S CLASS TEACHER

My child: ………………………………………….. was absent from school on the following dates:

Date: ………………………………… Reason ......

Please note that reasons such as poorly, unwell and ill etc are not acceptable

Signed: …………………………………………………….. parent/carer Date: … / … / …

Date

Dear Parent/Carer of: