Whole School Attendance

Our school attendance target is 97%. 

We share academy attendance with parents weekly via our Weekly Bulletin.

Our aim is to work with families to ensure that all our children receive the most from their education. All schools in the country must follow Department for Education guidance regarding attendance and it clearly states that no child should miss school apart from in exceptional circumstances and schools must continue to take steps to reduce absence to support children’s attainment. As a parent or carer, you have a legal requirement to ensure your child attends school on a regular basis.

We do understand there are times when children will need to be absent from school for a number of reasons, for example for sickness or ill health. Dental and medical appointments should be made outside of school hours wherever possible.

As stated within our policy if parents or carers take their child out of school during term-time, they may be subject to sanctions such as a Fixed Penalty Notice. This will be put in writing to the parent or carer. Please note that penalty notices are issued per parent per child. They are £60 if paid within 21 days rising to £120 if paid after 21 days but before 28 days. If the penalty notice remains unpaid then the Local Authority may instigate legal proceedings against you under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996. If found guilty of this offence you could be fined up to £1000.

We ask all parents and carers to follow our absence procedure.  If your child is unable to attend school for any reason, for safeguarding purposes, it is imperative that you phone school before 9:30am to inform us and on each day of absence. Failure to follow this procedure may result in your child receiving an unauthorised absence and could lead to us requesting the Educational Welfare Officer make a home visit. Any parent or carer who has not reported their child as absent will be contacted by the school by phone, email or text message.

 

Working Together to Improve School Attendance - Updated from August 2024

The Government have updated the Working together to improve school attendance, which is now statutory for all schools and academies in England. Below is an image of the key changes relating to fixed penalty notices. 

 

 

Authourised and Unauthorised illnesses

Following the updated guidance, the NHS:Healthier Together has provided some guidance about when children should or shouldn't be sent to school. We will be using this guidance as a benchmark for authorising children's absence because of illness. 

https://sybhealthiertogether.nhs.uk/parentscarers/child-unwell-ok-go-nurseryschool

Helpful Guide for Infectious Diseases

Managing specific infectious diseases at GOV.UK.

These say when children should be kept off school and when they shouldn't if you are unsure. 

Other Helpful Guides

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

Staff in the academy are always on hand to help you if you are unsure whether to send your child to school depending on the illness.