Dunholme St Chad's Church Of England Primary School

  1. Parents
  2. Attendance and Leave of Absence

Attendance

Attendance Matters

At Dunholme St Chad's Church of England Primary School we believe high levels of attendance and a punctual start to the day are important for effective learning.

We all know that good attendance is essential for children to do their very best in school.  For children to gain the greatest benefit from school they need to be in school, on time, every day unless there is an exceptional reason for the absence which is unavoidable.

Taking a day here and there can disrupt several weeks of learning over time. The table below shows how percentages translate into weeks lost from the academic year: 

Attendance Rate Education missed in one year If this continues over the 12 years of your child's education, they would miss...
90% 4 weeks One whole year of education
85% 6 weeks Almost two whole years of education
80% 8 weeks Two and a half years of education

The Law

Parents/carers of children of compulsory school age are required by law to ensure that their child(ren) regularly attends school. The law also requires all schools to record the attendance of each pupil at the start of both the morning and afternoon sessions and that schools;

    • Promote good attendance and reduce absence, including persistent absence
    • Ensure every pupil has access to full-time education to which they are entitled
    • Act early to address patterns of absence

In line with Government legislation, we will not authorise requests for leave of absence unless the circumstances are exceptional.

 

Avoiding Absence

You can do a great deal to teach your child good habits, which will last them for the rest of their life:

Illness

Unless your child is seriously unwell or suffering sickness and diarrhoea we suggest you send them in to school, notifying the teacher or the school office of your concerns. Your child's wellbeing is our highest priority and if they are struggling we will always call you to come and collect them. The following document may help you decide whether your child should go into school or not when ill:

NHS Guidelines: Is my child too ill for school?

 

Holidays

We know it is cheaper, but please think twice before booking holidays during term time. We will not authorise family holidays during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.

If you are considering taking a holiday in term, time. Please contact the headteacher to make an appointment to discuss. Please bring evidence to this appointment to this meeting to show the need for the holiday to fall in term time. 01673 860597

 

Medical Appointments

Please make every effort to schedule routine medical or dental appointments out of school hours or during the holidays. If you cannot avoid an appointment in school time, please make sure you let us know about it in advance.

How do we monitor attendance?

The persistent absence threshold set by Government is 10%. This means that if a child’s attendance falls below 90% at any point throughout the academic year, he/she will be classified as persistently absent. This means that any pupil who is absent from school for 56 sessions (28 days) is classified as persistently absent.

To ensure we comply with this legislation, attendance is monitored closely at the end of terms 2, 4 and 6. Any child whose attendance falls below our tracking threshold of 95% is flagged and discussed at our termly meetings to help prevent his/her attendance falling below 90%, classifying him/her as persistently absent. On occasion, parents may be requested to attend a meeting with the Headteacher, Mrs Tipping our Learning Mentor or Mrs Honey our Attendance Officer to discuss their child’s Attendance.

To view our Attendance Policy, click on the link below:

Attendance Policy

Concerned about your child's attendance?

If you have any concerns about your child's attendance please speak to your child's class teacher or pop into the office to make an appointment to speak with Mrs Appleby our Headteacher, Mrs Tipping our Learning Mentor or Mrs Honey our Attendance Officer.