Our school day is 8.45am-3.15pm
Why is Attendance Important?
“Pupils need to attend school regularly to benefit from their education. Missing out on lessons leaves children vulnerable to falling behind. Children with poor attendance tend to achieve less in both primary and secondary school.” School attendance – Departmental advice (August 2013)
“Improving attendance is everyone’s business. The barriers to accessing education are wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families. The foundation of securing good attendance is that school is a calm, orderly, safe, and supportive environment where all pupils want to be and are keen and ready to learn.” Working together to Improve School attendance – Departmental Guidance (May 2022)
Braeburn Primary and Nursery Academy seeks to ensure that all its pupils receive a full-time education which maximises opportunities for each pupil to realise his/her true potential. The school will strive to provide a welcoming, caring environment, whereby each member of the school community feels wanted and secure. All school staff will work with pupils and their families to ensure each pupil attends school regularly and punctually.
Regular attendance at school is essential to ensure uninterrupted progress and to enable our children to extend their potential. We expect all children on roll to attend every day, when the school is in session, as long as they are fit and healthy enough to do so. We believe that the most important factor in promoting good attendance is the development of positive attitudes towards school and learning.
Poor attendance can seriously affect your child’s:
- attainment in school
- relationships with other children and their ability to form a lasting friendship
- confidence to attempt new work and work alongside others
The school will establish an effective system of incentives and rewards that acknowledges the efforts of pupils to improve their attendance and timekeeping and will challenge the behaviour of those pupils and parents who give low priority to attendance and punctuality.
To meet these objectives at Patrington CE Primary Academy we will establish an effective and efficient system of communication with pupils, parents and appropriate agencies to provide mutual information, advice and support.
What is expected of the pupils?
- To respect themselves and others
- To do all they can to attend school regularly and punctually
- To inform a trusted adult if they feel that they are being bullied
- To encourage friendship and a sense of belonging
- To be happy and encourage others to feel happy
What is expected of the Parents?
- To keep requests for their child to be absent to a minimum
- To offer a reason, or medical proof, for any period of absence, preferably before the absence or on the first day of absence
- To ensure that their child arrives at school on time, a reason should be offered for any lateness
- To work closely with the attendance and wellbeing team to resolve any problems that may impede a child’s attendance
- To take family holidays during school holiday periods and be aware that requests for holidays during term time will be refused except in special/exceptional circumstances.
- To be aware of curriculum requirements and be especially vigilant with regards to attendance during important academic times such as SATS
- To support their child and recognise their successes and achievements
Attendance Target
Our target for attendance this year is 97%. Evidence shows that good attendance is a key factor in enabling children to reach their potential. We need to continue to work together with our families to ensure our attendance can reach 97%. Together in partnership, we can do this.
Pupil Absences
As a parent, having a child who is ill can be a very stressful time, whether caring for them, looking after other siblings, trying to contact the doctor or making arrangements with work.
Please ensure all absences are reported to the school office by 8.45am by calling the office on 01964 630315. You can leave a voicemail on the school office phone if you are unable to speak to a member of staff.
If your child is absent from school for more than one day please ensure you contact us each morning to inform us.
Unfortunately, if your child is absent and we do not hear from you, we have a duty of care to call each of your emergency contacts until we are able to establish that your child is safe and the cause for their absence.
If by 10am we still haven’t been able to speak to a parent/carer, we are then legally obliged to carry out a home visit. This is obviously an added pressure on parents and places a strain on staffing within the school, all of which could be easily avoided by simply notifying us by one of the methods above that your child will be absent that day.
Following a home visit, if contact has still not been made our duty of care will then extend to contacting 111; this is to ensure the safety and well-being of both children and parents/carers.
Thank you for your support and cooperation in keeping our pupils safe.
Pupil Appointments
We do not encourage any appointments to be made during school time, and for them to be made, where possible, out of school hours. On the rare occasion there may be a need to take a child out of school during the day for a medical appointment you will be required to provide evidence of this in the form of a letter, appointment card or text message. Without evidence we may be unable to authorise the absence. We would expect parents to make routine opticians and dental appointments outside of school hours, but we understand that hospital, emergency dental and GP appointments are often outside of parental control.
On the occasion that appointments unavoidably fall within the school day, we expect children to attend before and after the appointments where possible, to cause minimal disruption to their learning.
Punctuality
The gates open at 8.35am and close at 8.50am which gives all our families 15 minutes to arrive and drop off children without receiving a late mark. A child arriving after the gates close will need to register as a late arrival in the school office.
A child arriving between 8.45am and 9.15am will receive a late mark, but this does not affect their attendance as registers are still open.
A child arriving from 9.15am onwards has officially missed the register and is therefore marked “unauthorised late” which has the same impact on attendance as being absent from school. This is not controlled by the school.
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Leave of Absence Procedures
As detailed in our Attendance Policy, and in line with DfE guidance, we do not authorise leave of absence during term other than when exceptional circumstances permit. If you wish to take your child out of school, during term time, it is important to discuss this with us as much in advance as possible so we can guide you through the process.
You are required under the Education Act (1996) to ensure your child attends school regularly. There is, however, a discretionary power held by Headteachers to authorise absence in exceptional circumstances. Please note this is not an entitlement. The Headteacher will only authorise absence in line with the East Riding Behaviour & Attendance Partnership ‘Absence from School for Exceptional Circumstances’ Policy. Headteachers will not authorise absences if they believe it is to the detriment of a child’s education. Please note that supporting documents to aid decision making must be submitted at the time of your request for absence.
There is no longer a provision in law for Headteachers to authorise an absence for the purpose of a term time holiday.
If your request is authorised, you are required to ensure your child catches up on any missed school work. This is your responsibility and school are not obliged to provide work for your child to complete. Any unauthorised absence will be recorded on your child’s attendance records. This may result in legal proceedings against you, either through a Penalty Notice or the Magistrates’ Court.
Penalty Notices
Under the Anti Social Behaviour Act (2003) the local authority and schools have statutory powers to tackle poor school attendance and/or unauthorised absences. An unauthorised absence is any absence that the Headteacher has not given permission for or where an explanation has not been provided by the parent.
Please see here for the new legislation regarding penalty notices: New Penalty Notice fine Poster-ER (2)
Penalty Notices will be used as a deterrent to prevent a pattern of unauthorised absences developing. They will be issued by post direct to the home of a parent after possibly just one warning, or in the case of absences without acceptable cause, warnings may not be given. This includes pupils caught on truancy sweeps, persistent late arrival after the close of registration or unauthorised absence that has not been authorised as an absence from school for exceptional circumstances. In these cases the warning is given on the absence request form and detailed within this information leaflet and no written warning will be given. Where parents do not follow school procedures of submitting a request and simply remove their child without seeking prior approval, a warning may not be given. Parents must complete a request for exceptional leave form and submit this to the school, allowing for sufficient time to enable the school to consider the request and inform the parent of the decision.
If your request is declined and you still take your child out of school each parent within your household may be issued with a penalty notice for each child you have taken out of school.
Support and guidance on attendance is always available and if you have any questions about this, or if you need help to achieve an improvement, please contact your child’s school to discuss this.
We advise that you do not plan for your child to be absent from school without gaining prior agreement from their school first. Headteachers cannot retrospectively authorise absence from school under any circumstance.
Please find a copy of the ‘Leave of Absence Request Form’ below available to download and print, they are also available from the school office.
