Attendance
EVERY SCHOOL DAY COUNTS AND EVERY DAY IS IMPORTANT
The following comes directly from our Attendance Policy
Rationale
Parents have a legal duty to secure the regular attendance of their children at school. LAs are charged with the duty of providing education and enforcing school attendance. It is in this context that absence is determined as authorized or not. Attendance registers are a source of evidence in legal proceedings for irregular attendance.
At Ashleigh School we believe that children can only learn effectively if they attend school regularly. It is also important that children arrive and leave school on time. It is equally important that children should not be at school if they are unwell.
Ashleigh School is a happy school. Children learn best when they are happy and relaxed. All staff show concern and care about each child’s welfare.
As attendance is crucial to effective learning and continuity of learning, school places great importance in this area of school life.
Aims:
- To foster good habits of attendance and punctuality;
- To achieve a prompt and effective start to all school sessions;
- To keep records of attendance in line with current legal requirements;
- To produce an active and effective monitoring system with strategies for encouraging good attendance.
Guidelines
Our school opens at 8.45 am for all with registration at 8.55 am.
School closes at 3.30pm.
The register has to be marked
The school is required to record the attendance of every pupil on its roll and to show who is absent or late. For security reasons it is important that your child arrives promptly as the doors are locked to ensure the safety of all the children in school. In the event of a late arrival, entry will always be via the main entrance to school.
Absence from school
If a child cannot attend school because they are ill, parents should notify the school by note, telephone or by telling the class teacher by 9.15am on the day of absence
Reluctance to go to school
Sometimes children get anxious about leaving home and going to school. They may tell parents they have a headache or tummy ache or that they feel sick. Parents my notice they are worried about school from things they say. Parents are encouraged to mention any concerns they have to the class teacher.
Things to remember if your child seems anxious about going to school:
- Check any problems your child has told you with the class teacher;
- Take any worries seriously but don’t make them worse by seeming to be very worried yourself;
- Don’t give in and let your child stay at home. It is better to send them to school and have a word with the class teacher;
- Try to talk about school in a positive way, for example, “What was good about school today?”
- Be sensitive but firm about going to school.
School procedures
The education welfare officer (EWO) visits school when it is deemed necessary to check registers. Follow up is required when the EWO identifies any persistent problem with attendance or punctuality.
Step 1: letter sent from school.
Step 2: home visit from EWO.
Step 3: review meeting to plan action for improvement.
Registers
The register is a legal document. They are to be kept secure in the classroom or in the secretary’s office, depending on the time of day. Only school staff are to have access to the register. No information from the register is to be shared with anyone other than authorised persons. All telephone queries must be validated before information can be provided.
Register monitoring will occur as per the following timetable:
EWO: when necessary
Headteacher: Regularly;
Class teacher: Daily;
Governors: Annually.
The curriculum committee is also to review the policy bi-annually.
EWOs should have access to the Headteacher’s/secretary’s office for the purpose of monitoring registers to ensure confidentiality.
Medical notes and letters from parents must be kept in a secure place.
Authorisation
Phone calls or letters can be used to validate an absence.
Lateness
Pupils will be actively encouraged to arrive at school within the prescribed times. A ‘Late Arrivals’ record will be kept in the main office of the school. Any pupils arriving late will have their names and reason for being late recorded in the record. If they are accompanied by a parent, the parent will be asked to sign the child in. If an unaccompanied child arrives late on a regular basis, their parent or carer will be informed by letter. Class teachers are to inform the Headteacher of any concerns they have or patterns that appear.
Full Attendance
Pupils with full attendance for the term will be acknowledged with a certificate of merit. A pupil with full attendance for a whole academic year will receive an additional reward. Additionally, classes with 100% attendance and no lates in any one week will also receive recognition in the form of a certificate, awarded as part of the Shine assembly on Friday, with a special non uniform day the following week.
Conclusion
The responsibility for attendance and punctuality lies with parents. In partnership with them the school aims to share this with them by ensuring that all children are punctual and keen to attend. Where there are problems we hope to overcome them sensitively and in compliance with legal requirements.
Our most recent attendance figures are for 2020-21: 96.0%
Authorised absence: 3.3%
Unauthorised absence: 0.7%
If a child's attendance drops below 90% we need to look at why that is.
Each week we celebrate good attendance in the Shine assembly on a Friday.
On the front page of the website we also record which class had the best attendance the previous week.