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Attendance

Important information about attendance….

From September 2019 Knowsley Attendance Service have now stated that any unauthorised absenteeism up to 14 sessions (7days) within any 10 week period can mean that each parent may be issued with a Penalty Warning Notice and subsequent fine for any unauthorised absences for each of their children

ATTENDANCE…

Make Everyday Matter at SVP

Stockbridge Village Primary School is committed to providing the best educational experience for all children and good attendance and punctuality is critical to this outcome.

Each academic year has 190 school days, this leaves 175 non-school days for family time, holidays, visits and appointments.
If a pupil is absent for just 1 day each term that equals 6 days or 39 hours a year of lost learning.

Every Day Counts!

It is vital that pupils attend school, on time, every day in order to gain the greatest benefit from their education.

Attendance

The school door is opened at 8.40am and registration takes place at 8.55am and school finishes at 3.10pm.

We expect pupils to arrive and to be collected punctually at the start and end of each day. If your child arrives after 8.55am they will be recorded in the registers as late.

Persistent lateness, 10 or more recorded late marks in one half term, will result in a request for a parental meeting to discuss any support the school can offer to improve punctuality.

If your child arrives after 9.30am it will be recorded as unauthorised. We will work with the School Attendance Officer, Kylie Banks for those children who are recorded as having unauthorised absence, due to lateness after registers close, three or more times in one half term period.

Absence

If your child is significantly unwell and unable to attend school, we request that parents/carers telephone the school office or contact us through the school app on each and every day of the absence, before 8.45am and clearly state the reason for their absence.

Where possible, we ask that medical appointments are arranged outside of the school day. Where this is not possible, please bring the appointment letter/card to the school office in advance.

Requests for holiday

There is no automatic entitlement, in law, to time off during term time.

All requests for a leave of absence must be, by law, made in writing and in advance. As a school, we request parents use the ‘Holiday Request Form’ which is available from the school office or from the link below. Holiday requests are only authorised in exceptional circumstances. If you choose to remove your child from school when the request has been denied it will be recorded as unauthorised and the school may request the Local Authority issue a penalty notice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is a good attendance percentage?
A. The school’s attendance target for all our pupils is a minimum of 95%. The National Average Attendance for a child at Primary School is 95%

Q. Why is attendance important?
A. If your child is of compulsory school age and is registered at a school, it is essential that they attend. Excellent attendance at school is important to allow a child to fulfil their potential.

Q. What is poor attendance?
A. Anything below 95% attendance is worrying as your child has missed more than 8 days of school, resulting in a lower chance of achievement. It makes it harder for the child to progress if they are missing key learning opportunities.

Q. What impact will low attendance have on my child?|
A. Low attendance will impact on your child in many ways; educationally and socially. Pupils who have low attendance are more likely to become isolated from their social group and underachieve academically.

Q. What will happen if my child’s attendance falls below 95%?
A. Stockbridge Village Primary School monitors pupil attendance throughout the year. You will be sent a letter to inform you of the attendance percentage and you may be invited to a School Attendance Meeting at the school.

Q. Isn’t my child entitled to 10 days holiday days a year?
A. No. The School can only authorise an absence in exceptional circumstances. Remember there are 175 non-school days per academic year to spend on family time, visits, holidays and appointments etc.

Q. What is meant by ‘genuine medical reasons’?
A. Diarrhoea, sickness, childhood illnesses e.g. measles, chicken pox, extremely high temperatures, are genuine illnesses. Children should not stay home if they have minor coughs, colds, tummy aches and headaches. If your child is too poorly to remain at the school, the school will contact you to collect them.

If your child has a specific hospital appointment, the appointment letter must be brought into school in advance. However, where possible we ask if you could arrange appointments out of the school day. Please remember that even absence due to genuine medical reasons still affect a child’s attendance.

Always supply medical evidence wherever possible, for example: prescriptions or medication issued via GP, Walk in Centre, Pharmacy and Care of the Chemist. These may be via letter, text, email or even an appointment card/slip.

Q. What should I do if my child is absent?
A. Contact the school before 8.45am on the first day and every subsequent day of absence to explain their reasons.

REMEMBER EVERY SCHOOL DAY COUNTS TOWARDS YOUR CHILD’S SUCCESS

Please visit this Department for Education page on attendance using the link:

Holiday request form

DID YOU KNOW…

…that 2 weeks absent from school brings a child’s attendance down to 87%

…a child who is absent a day of school per week misses an equivalent of two years of their school life

HAVE YOU EVER…

  • Arrived to a movie when it has already started?
  • Turned up at a party late?
  • Come to a gym class when everyone has got the routine?
  • Walked into a meeting late?

Just take a minute to think about how that feels… you feel like you don’t know what’s going on, you are playing catch up, your colleagues/friends are discussing ideas and plans you were not part of arranging. This feeling is the same for your child when they arrive even 10 minutes late for school. Friends have formed groups to work in and are busy discussing ideas and being on task. They have missed the very important lesson input and they are playing ‘catch up’ academically and socially.

Why is it so important, its only the odd day…What could happen?

  •  they can fall behind in work
  • affect their motivation and their enjoyment of learning
  • lead to poor behaviour
  • affect their confidence
  • mean they miss out on the social life of school and extra curricular opportunities and experiences
  • affect their ability to have or keep friendships.

Here’s the maths bit…

According to The Department for Education the overall absence rate for a primary school is 4.7%

this is made up of 3.4% being authorised absences and 1.3% unauthorised absence.

Our persistent absentee  (below 90% attendance) rate is an average of approximately 8.3%

The main causes of absenteeism:

Illness – approximately 2.6%
Family holiday – approximately 16.9%
For those claiming free school meals – approximately 7.3% (approximately 4.2% non free school meals)
SEN/EHCP absences – approximately 8.2% (approximately 4.3% for non SEN/EHCP)

Stockbridge Village Primary School is a happy, successful school and you child is part of that. We aim to give them the best opportunities for a great future.

Here at SVP we aim to improve our attendance by Making Everyday Matter and working on recognition of good practice and celebrating this through letters home to parents, acknowledgement from staff and a genuine motivation to learn and grow academically and socially. We aim to remove barriers by supporting our families in achieving their potential.

This can be seen on our inspirational display in school where we have used role models who quote why they feel education is important and what it helped them achieve…

TIPS FOR GOOD ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY:

Children should go to bed early enough: Tired children are hard to wake up and find it difficult to learn. Going to bed at a reasonable time makes things easier for them and you.

Be in school regularly an on time: It is settling for children and helps them get into a routine. The more regularly they are in school and on time the more they get used to it.

Get up early enough: Avoid rushing and feeling stressed. Get up early enough and give yourself enough time to get ready.

Limit TV or game time in the morning: Avoid arguments and lateness by limiting how long they are allowed to watch TV or play games in the morning. If it regularly causes problems think about banning it completely in the mornings.

Get things ready the night before: If uniforms, packed lunches, etc. are ready the night before it saves a lot of time in the mornings.

Make time for breakfast – or come to Breakfast Club at school: Making time for breakfast can help to keep things calm in the morning and saves time rather than having to stop at the shops on the way to school. Or come to our school Breakfast Club where children have time to eat, play and get ready for the school day. The club opens at 8.00am.

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