School Attendance & Punctuality

Good attendance is directly related to a child’s enjoyment and achievement at school and is vital to promote successful learning. We strive to provide a welcoming and caring environment whereby all members of the school community feel wanted and secure. We all take responsibility for welcoming a child into school and into the classroom, with a smile, whenever they attend.

Persistent or long-term absence has a negative impact in all areas of school life, not just on academic achievement but also on the development of key skills and friendships. Interrupted attendance makes teaching and learning difficult and undermines the educational process leading to educational disadvantage.

We expect all children to be at school, on time, every day the school is open, unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. However, we will challenge the behaviour of children and parents who give low priority to attendance and punctuality.

We understand that children are sometimes reluctant to attend school and that the reasons for this are varied and may be complex. We aim to resolve any problems with regular attendance by making early contact with parents and offering support including referral to the Learning Mentor.  Where children are anxious about coming to school, the Learning Mentor can offer practical support and help develop strategies to manage anxiety and encourage attendance.

Aims

Our overall aim is to promote a whole community approach to improving attendance and punctuality.

• To improve the overall percentage of children at school.
• To make attendance and punctuality a priority for the whole school community, including parents, staff and children.
• To provide support advice and guidance to parents and children.
• To develop a systematic approach to gathering and analysis of attendance data
• To develop and maintain positive communication between home and school.
• To establish a system of rewards and incentives.
• To work together with the School Attendance Service and other services or agencies
• To recognise individual needs of children who have been absent for a prolonged period and who are returning to school.

What to do if a child is absent from school:

If a child is to be absent from school, parents should report absence by ringing the school office before 9.00am to report the absence. If an absence is expected to continue beyond three days, parents are asked to maintain regular contact with the school to indicate how long the child is likely to remain absent. Parents are also expected to provide medical evidence to support reasons for absence.

Family Holidays

Family holidays should be arranged during school holidays. All absence is bad for a child’s education.  Due to new Government guidelines, from September 2024, the principal cannot authorise any holidays in term time except in very exceptional circumstances.

All requests are considered by the principal whose decision it is to authorise the absence or not.

Where a pupil is absent from school without permission of the school, the parent/carer of the pupil may be issued with a £160 Penalty Notice per parent per child. If the notice is paid within 21 days, the penalty may be reduced to £80. If the notice remains unpaid after 28 days the Local Authority may commence proceedings under section 444 of the 1996 Education Act in the Magistrates Court.

If children are taken away for a two week holiday every year and have an average number of days off for sickness and appointments, then by the time they leave at sixteen, they will have missed a year of school.

Punctuality

We expect all parents and carers to ensure that children arrive at school on time.

S​chool gates open at 8:40am doors are closed promptly at 8.50am.

If a child arrives after 8.50am they will be recorded as late. If a child is late for school, the child should be taken to the school office where their attendance can be recorded and any school meals orders taken.

The responsibility for lateness and attendance rests with the parent and any concerns are raised with the parent and not with the child.

Registers close at 9.30am and any child arriving after this time is treated as being late after registration which is recorded as an unauthorised absence.

Monitoring unauthorised absence & attendance problems

If a child returns to school after a period of unauthorised absence that is deemed as unacceptable, then the school attendance officer will invite parents into school with the school learning mentor to discuss the next appropriate action as well as offer support from the Knowsley Attendance Service, if required.

We aim to support parents and carers to help remove any barriers which prevent a child attending school. These could be barriers which the child has or which the parent has. Our starting point is always one of support. In return, we expect parents to contact school at an early stage and to work with us in resolving any problems together. This is nearly always successful and we try to resolve attendance issues within school.

The School Attendance Service visits school regularly and will follow up any cases where difficulties remain unresolved. The School Attendance Officer will also try to resolve the situation by agreement but, if other ways of trying to improve the child’s attendance have failed, these Officers can use court proceedings to prosecute parents or to seek an Education Supervision Order. The maximum penalty on conviction is a fine of £2,500 and/or 3 months imprisonment.

P​lease see the school attendance policy for further information, this can be found on our policies page.

Rewards and Incentives

Good attendance is also promoted and encouraged by:

• U​sing the 'To Perfect Attendance and Beyond' initiative which celebrates attendance and punctuality in weekly whole school assemblies using the traffic light red (below 90%), amber (below 96%) and green zones (96% and above).
• W​inning class attendance trophy, stickers and prizes for highest weekly attendance.
• W​inning class punctuality trophy and stickers for best class punctuality.
• W​e raise awareness of good attendance through a range of half-term whole class initiatives such as ice cream parties, pizza parties and movie & popcorn for the best half-term class attendance.
• W​eekly punctuality postcards for improved punctuality.
• P​rovide reward systems for any pupil defined to have made a special effort in attendance.
• 1​00% attendance individually rewarded each term - Bronze, Silver & Gold.
• C​hildren who achieve 100% attendance over the whole school year receive an extra award for excellent attendance.