Attendance really does matter

Regular attendance at school is important for your child's learning, development, future opportunities and friendships. Every time your child misses school he or she is missing valuable learning, and we want all of our children to have every opportunity available to them so that they have more opportunities later in life. For a child to reach their full potential, a high level of school attendance is essential.

Responsibility

Every child has a right to access the education he/she is entitled. Parents and teachers share the responsibility for supporting and promoting excellent school attendance and punctuality for all. Every opportunity will be used to convey to children and their parents or carers the importance of regular and punctual attendance.  For our children to take full advantage of the educational opportunities offered it is vital your child is at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. As a parent/carer you have a legal duty to make sure your child receives a full-time education and comes to school regularly. If you are finding it difficult to get your child to school you must speak to the class teacher  and or member of the office of Senior Leadership team. We will be able to help you. If your child is genuinely too ill to attend school you must ring the school office before 9am and leave a message on the answerphone or with the admin team. If you're not sure if your child should be home or in school have a chat with the office and they will advise.

What School Does

The school closely track the attendance of every child in school. As a school we have a legal duty to make sure children are in school and safe. We aim to work closely with families in order to ensure that any difficulties around attendance are quickly resolved. Attendance certificates are shared regularly with parents across the year and emails and letters follow if the attendance remains a concern.  If we have concerns about the high level of absences or of lateness of a child we have the right to refer the family to the Local Authority who will follow this up but we want to avoid this and work with families. Persistent unauthorised absences or lateness  (more than 10 in a 100 day period) may result in the school issuing a fixed penalty notice. We think that by working with you there is a greater chance your child's attendance will improve.

Further Information

Our attendance policy. 

Government guidance here on working together to secure good school attendance.