Attendance

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Statement of Intent

Platt Primary School is committed to the continuous raising of achievement of all of our pupils. Regular attendance is critical if our pupils are to be successful and benefit from the opportunities presented to them.

One of our basic principles is to celebrate success. Good attendance is fundamental to a successful and fulfilling school experience. Platt Primary School actively promotes 100% attendance for all of our pupils and we use a variety of termly and annual rewards to promote good attendance and punctuality.

We recognise that parents/carers have a vital role, and a legal responsibility, to ensure good attendance and we promise to identify, investigate and work in partnership with parents/carers, pupils and other agencies to resolve attendance problems.

Parental responsibility

The responsibility for ensuring children attend school regularly and punctually rests with parents. To this end, it is desirable that parents should be the first line of contact whenever the child is absent from school.

It is the parents’ responsibility to contact the school whenever the child is absent and on the first day of absence.

The role of the teacher

Class teachers complete a register at the beginning of each morning and afternoon session. They should identify unauthorised absences and bring them to the attention of the Headteacher or designated person as soon as possible.

Frequent absence is also a cause for concern. School Medical Officers are very helpful and can normally clarify whether ongoing absence is justified. It is the school who authorises absence, not the parent/carer.

At Platt pupils are expected to arrive by 8.50am. All pupils arriving after 8.50am should report to the school office where they should sign in.

Any pupils arriving after 9.30am could be recorded as an unauthorised absence which may result in the issuing of a Penalty Notice, if no reason for the late arrival is notified by the parent/carer.

Authorised/non authorised absence

The legal responsibility for ensuring pupils attend school regularly and punctually rests with parents/carers.

It is essential that parents/carers should be the first line of contact whenever the student is absent from school.

It is the responsibility of the parents/carers to contact the school whenever a student is absent and on the first day of absence.

It is the school who authorises the absence, not the parent/carer.

Absence is either authorised, such as in the case of illness, religious observance etc, or unauthorised, when there is no reason given for such absence or it is considered the reason is unjustified, i.e. a longer period than would reasonably be expected, or no reasonable explanation.

The following reasons are examples of the kinds of absence that will not be authorised:

§ Absence of siblings if one child is ill

§ Oversleeping

§ Inadequate clothing/uniform

§ Confusion over school dates

§ Medical/dental appointments of more than half a day without very good reasons

§ Child’s birthday

§ Shopping trip

Leave of absence/holiday

Parents should not expect the school to agree to holiday in school time. Even though the school has discretionary power to grant leave of absence for holidays, parents do not have automatic right to withdraw pupils from school. In law, parents must apply for permission in advance. Permission is granted in accordance with arrangements made by the governing body of the school. At this school, pupils with attendance below 95% will not be granted authorised absence for holiday. Previous academic year’s attendance will also be taken into account.

If a family takes a holiday of five school days (10 sessions) or more which has not been authorised by the Headteacher, a fixed penalty notice may be issued by Kent County Council. The decision will be made by the Headteacher who will consider each case on its own merit. Patterns of attendance and family circumstances will be taken into account. The Education Welfare Officer (EWO) will be consulted.

Only in exceptional circumstances may the amount of leave granted exceed ten school days in any one school year. Parents must make a strong case for why their child should be treated differently from others. They must apply in writing and their application will be judged according to the following criteria:

§ The time of year for the proposed trip

§ It’s duration and purpose

§ The potential impact on the child’s learning

§ The circumstances of the family and wishes of the parents

(see The Code of Practice for Schools and Education Welfare Officers

on Attendance Matters)

§ The importance of the trip and whether it is a ‘once only’ event

§ The overall attendance pattern of the child

Traveller Children

Travellers are protected from prosecution if they can prove the following:

§ They are engaged in business, which requires travel from place to place

§ The children attend school as the nature of the work permits

§ The children have attended 200 sessions or more in a period of 12 months

Where the traveller children are known to be resident on site and not attending school, the absence should be treated as for any other pupil.

School Action for Low Attendance

§ 95 – 100% attendance – teachers deal with attendance issues

§ 85 – 95% attendance – monitored through attendance meetings

§ Below 85% – consider EWO referral

Penalty Notices

Section 23 of the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003 empowers designated LEA Officers, Headteachers and the Police to issue penalty notices in cases of unauthorised absence from school. The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2004 came into force on 27 February 2004.

From January 2005, Kent County Council could issue Penalty Notices in the following circumstances:

(a) overt truancy (including pupils caught on truancy sweeps)

(b) parentally-condoned absences

(d) excessive delayed return from extended holidays without prior school agreement

(e) persistent late arrival at school (after the Register has closed).

Attendance reports

Parents telephone with reasons for pupil absence.
Designated person to enter details into the register and/or computer.
Designated person to enter absence mark in the register for the duration of the absence.
On receipt of a note from the parent the designated person enters the appropriate code in the register.
Form tutors to raise any concerns with the designated person.
Designated person to take appropriate action when absence is a concern and contact the parents to discuss attendance issues.
Referral to be made to the Attendance and Behaviour Service were issues can not be resolved.