ATTENDANCE EXPECTATION AT ST ANN’S WELL ACADEMY
At St Ann’s Well Academy, we are committed to helping all pupils to achieve their full potential. Good attendance is a key factor in raising pupils’ attainment and supporting their personal development. Whilst it is appreciated that children are ill from time to time, please think carefully before allowing your child to be absent from school.
Every lesson counts. Even a short amount of time away from school will cause your child to fall behind in their work and it will make it difficult for them to catch up.
Helen Threlfall is our Attendance Officer. She works to improve attendance and follows up absences from school through, phone calls, letters, home visits and meetings. You can speak to Mrs Threlfall direct on 01159155808, by using Class Dojo or by using the following email address – [email protected].
As attendance is statutory, we all have a duty to ensure that children are in school every day (unless of course, they are very ill). Please help us to help your child by sending him/her to school every day. Remember, as a parent or legal guardian you are legally responsible for making sure your child attends school every day.
HOW YOUR CHILD’S ATTENDANCE IS MONITORED
We look at the percentage of your child’s attendance, which will fall into the following zones:
- Green Zone – between 97% – 100% attendance – no action required.
Mrs Threlfall may contact parents whose child’s attendance falls below 97% or under to find out if we can support in improving the attendance.
- Amber Zone – 91% – 96% attendance – you will receive a letter to inform you that your child’s attendance has fallen into the amber zone and if no improvement is made, invited in to school for a meeting.
- Red Zone – below 90% attendance, this will automatically trigger a meeting or a visit from our Attendance Officer. Absences will not be authorised for pupils whose attendance falls into the red zone without some medical evidence. A child whose attendance is below 90% is classed by the government as a persistent absentee.
If your child is persistently absent and / or their attendance does not improve they could be referred to the local authority’s Educations Welfare team and you may be at risk of a penalty notice or prosecution.
TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE
We use a text messaging service to contact you when your child is not at school. If your child is absent and we haven’t been informed why, we will send you a text message. You will be able to reply to the text message to advise why your child is away from school. If you do not have a mobile telephone, we will continue to contact you by telephone or letter if necessary.
It is very important to keep the school informed of any changes in your contact details as soon as possible.
It is parent’s responsibility to inform the school if your child is absent, failure to provide the school with a reason of absence could result in the absence being unauthorised.
Please remember that unless your child is ill, they should be in school every day. Please let the school know as soon as possible if your child is unable to come into school.
UNAUTHORISED ABSENCES
Some reasons for absence cannot be authorised (according to government guidelines). Examples of these are:
- No reason provided
- NO medical evidence is provided for illness and appointments
- The parent/carer or a sibling being ill or has a hospital appointment and there is no one to bring the child to school
- The parent/carer doesn’t think the school is open
- Oversleeping
- Your child takes a whole day for an appointment when only part of a day is needed
- Families that take more than one day for religious observances.
HOLIDAYS
Following government guidelines, headteachers cannot grant any leave of absence unless in exceptional circumstances. This removes the headteacher’s authority to authorise holidays. Therefore holidays can no longer be authorised.
If a leave of absence for the purpose of a holiday is taken it will be unauthorised.
The regulations do not allow schools to give approval after the leave of absence has been taken. Therefore any leave of absence that has not been applied for in advance will be unauthorised.
Penalty notices are fines between £60 and £120 imposed on parents. Penalty notices may be used where a pupil’s absence has not been authorised by the school. It is therefore very important that you keep us informed of the reason if your child is absent and that no periods of unauthorised leave are taken.
REWARDS FOR GOOD ATTENDANCE
‘Class of the Week Award’ for the class with the highest attendance.
Termly certificates and reward for children with 99% to 100% attendance.
PUNCTUALITY MATTERS TOO!
Being frequently late for school adds up to lost learning – so please be on time.
Being late to school can have a considerable impact over the whole school year. The table below illustrates the amount of learning lost if a pupil is late to school:
| 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 |
Please ask at the school office for a paper copy of our Attendance Policy