Attendance
Good attendance and punctuality are vital for success at school and in pupils future lives.
Parents and guardians are legally required to ensure their children are in school every day and on time. Our attendance target as a school is 96%. It is a target that we would like to smash!
In a year there are 365 days. This is made up of 190 days in school, 175 days out of school. In order to achieve attendance of above 96% a pupil needs to be in school for 182 days a year.
100% | Excellent attendance | Never miss a day! Amazing! |
96% - 99% | Good attendance | Target is being met. |
95% and below | Attendance causing concern | Attendance will be monitored and parents will be contacted to offer support. The Education Welfare Officer will become aware of your child’s attendance. A fixed penalty notice may be issued if absences are unauthorised. |
92% and below | Attendance is poor | If attendance drops below 90% (19 days of absence) your child is classed as a persistent absentee. A formal referral will be made to the Education Welfare Officer. A fixed penalty notice may be issued. |
We as a school aim to be fair and consistent in our Attendance Policy. We will keep parents informed if their child’s level of attendance falls and will write to you if your child’s attendance percentage drops to a level that causes concerns. We have an Education Welfare Officer linked to the school who can meet with any parent who is having difficulty with their child attending school for whatever reason. Absences will be unauthorised if we don’t hear from you with a valid reason for your child not being in school. Birthdays, shopping for uniform, having no one to bring them are not valid reasons. Fixed penalty notices will be issued by Suffolk County Council for unauthorised absences, usually 6 sessions but we withhold the right to inform them at a lower level in accordance with Suffolk County Council's attendance policy.
Late marks are monitored and passed to the Education Welfare Officer when they reach an unacceptable level. If your child is late by more than 15 minutes (arriving after 9.00am or 1.15pm) the session will be classed as an unauthorised absence and will count towards a Penalty Notice.
Our expectation of you as parents is that you keep us informed of your child’s whereabouts at all times if they are not in school. This means a phone call each day before 9.15am to inform us of any illness. If they are ill for more than a couple of days we would expect a visit to the GP. Please keep your appointment card to show the school as evidence of illness if it is required.
Children should attend school with minor illnesses such as coughs and colds. We can administer both non-prescription and prescription medicine - please complete a form at the school office if this is something your child needs. If you are unsure whether your child is too ill for school, please see the innformation below from the NHS:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/
We expect that routine appointments with dentist/optician/doctor are made outside of school hours where possible. If you have an unavoidable appointment in school time we will authorise one session of absence for that appointment (one registration session, either am or pm).
Holidays cannot be authorised apart from very exceptional circumstances. Funerals are authorised for close family members, as are music/dance exams or similar. If your child requires time off for holidays or other leave of absence, a request form should be completed and handed in to the school office.
If you are having difficulties regarding attendance, please talk to us. We want to work together to ensure your child is in school at all times.
