Good school attendance is crucial to support children’s learning. The Department for Education says there is clear evidence of a link between poor attendance at school and low levels of achievement.
The minimum target for attendance is 96%. An attendance percentage of between 96 and 98% is considered good, and attendance above 98% is considered excellent.
Minerva Primary School is committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for our pupils. Therefore we ask our parents and carers to support us by ensuring their children’s full attendance at school except in cases of genuine illness.
For the DfE statutory guidance on school attendance, please click on the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/564599/school_attendance.pdf
There is also a helpful attendance guide for parents which can be downloaded below.
Attendance expectation
Regular and punctual attendance at school is both a legal requirement and essential for children and young people to maximise their educational opportunities. The expectation is that every child should be in school, every day, unless they are unwell. It is taken into account that children are likely to be unwell at some point during the school year and as a result the attendance expectation here at Minerva Primary is set at 96%. Minerva Primary is committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for all our pupils. In order to ensure this, if your child’s attendance shows a decrease towards the school’s expectation of 96%, you will be notified and we will aim to work with you to ensure any issues are resolved as quickly as possible. If your child’s attendance drops below 90%, they will be considered ‘persistently absent’ and will be raised as a concern with the Education Welfare Service. In this instance, the Education Welfare Service would aim to work with you to improve your child’s attendance however if this proved unsuccessful, legal action would be considered.
Absence
The table below shows the impact of whole days absent and lost learning hours in one school year:
Descriptor
|
Attendance
|
Whole Days Absent
|
Lost Hours of Learning
|
| Excellent |
100% – 99% |
0 – 2 |
0 – 10 |
| Good |
98% – 96% |
4 – 7.5 |
20-37.5 |
| Requires Improvement |
95% – 91% |
9.5 – 17 |
47.5 – 85 |
| Persistent Absentee |
90% – 86% |
19 – 27 |
95 – 135 |
| Critical |
85% – 80% |
28.5 – 38 |
142.5 – 190 |
The Department for Education says there is clear evidence of a link between poor attendance at school and low levels of achievement.
Late
Being late to school can have a considerable impact over the whole school year. The table below shows you just how much time can be missed over a year just by being five minutes late to school every day:
|
5 minutes late every day = 3 days of school lost a year
|
|
10 minutes late every day = 6.5 days of school lost a year
|
|
15 minutes late every day = 10 days of school lost a year
|
|
20 minutes late every day = 13 days of school lost a year
|
|
30 minutes late every day = 19 days of school lost a year
|
We understand that the school mornings can be hectic, but when your child is late for school they are missing out on vital parts of their education.
Should you have any questions regarding attendance, or if you would like to discuss how we may support you in ensuring your child attends school regularly, please contact the school office for an appointment with the Head of School.
Absent pupil procedure
If your child is absent from school, you have a duty to telephone the school office by 9am on each day of absence and provide a reason. An answer phone is available for you to leave a message.
In the event of no telephone contact, the school office will make a telephone call to the contact numbers on file. If we are unable to make contact, the school will follow an absent pupil procedure which involves us undertaking several steps to ensure ourselves of the safe whereabouts of the pupil. This is part of our safeguarding commitment.
Working with parents/carers
If a child has been absent from school on a number of separate occasions, we may write to you or seek to speak with you to notify you their overall attendance percentage is decreasing. This is not to be seen as a negative communication but rather a way of us keeping you informed of what our data is telling us and a reminder that should you or your child have any concerns around attending school, you are welcome to come in and discuss this with us. We will always try to help wherever we can.
Our letter process starts by advising of a reduced level of attendance. However, if further absence is incurred, you may receive a second letter which invites you to come into the school for a discussion.
Genuine illness is marked as authorised absence. However, where it is identified that a child has incurred many absences which are all illness-related, we may write to you to advise that further absences will need to be evidenced, or that we require extra information regarding the illness to enable us to continue authorising the absences.
We will always aim to work with parents to resolve any attendance difficulties. However, where we have made many unsuccessful attempts, if attendance is considered an issue, in the interests of our pupils we will seek the involvement of the Education Welfare Service (EWS). Our attendance policy lists the actions that EWS may take to ensure good attendance.
Holiday during term time
Pupils are not allowed to take holiday in term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. It is very rare that any holiday would be authorised. Good attendance is key to pupils making good progress and taking time out to go on holiday can significantly hamper progress. Therefore, we request that no child takes holiday during term time.
If you do need to request term time leave in exceptional circumstances, please visit the school office for a request form.
Illness and medication
Please phone the school on 01823 337051 before 9.15a.m. to let us know if your child is ill. In the mornings before school, you will be able to leave a message explaining why your child is not in school. If a child has been sick, we request that they remain off school for 48 hours to ensure they are fully recovered. If your child has a contagious illness such as chicken pox, slap cheek or measles, please let us know as soon as possible. If a child has certain illnesses that require them to remain away from school, your doctor should be able to advise you, however if you are unsure please contact reception and we will refer to the advice we receive form the Health Authority.
If a child has an ongoing medical issue such as diabetes or asthma, the school works with the relevant health professionals and parents to ensure medication is available and accessed during the school day and that trained staff are on hand if required.
If your child requires medication during the school day please speak to your class teachers who will arrange for the necessary paperwork to be completed with you. We would however request that when completing a course of medication that you arrange, where possible, to ask the GP for a three-dose antibiotic, for example, which can be administered before and after school. No pupil should bring medication into school to self administer without the knowledge of the child’s teacher.
Appointments during school time
There may be occasions where a pupil needs to attend a hospital appointment. Generally, if these are booked in advance, you can request an appointment which does not interfere with the school day. We would request that dentist and doctor’s appointments are also booked out of the school day unless they are emergency appointments. The school will not authorise time taken out for appointments which need not take place during the school day.
We also cannot authorise pupils to be out of school if another family member has an appointment. We offer before-school and after-school care facilities if you need assistance with childcare in these circumstances.
Promoting good attendance
Schools in our trust promote good attendance in a variety of different ways which may include the issuing of certificates at half-termly and yearly intervals, stickers, celebratory assemblies, a non-uniform day or a week’s care of the school mascot for the class with the best attendance.
