WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS ABSENT:

If your child cannot come to school, you must:

Phone the school, before 9am, to let us know that your child will be off and why. If your child has an appointment and will be off for part of the day, you can show us the letter or appointment card.

If you do not contact school on the first day of absence, we will try to contact you. This ay include coming out to your house. If you do not provide the school with a reason for absence, we have no choice, but to mark it as unauthorised.

WHAT SCHOOL DO IF YOUR CHILD IS ABSENT:

Everyday staff check who is absent and follow routine procedures. If you have not informed school about your child’s absence, we will try to contact you. We will phone and may make a home visit to try and find out why your child is absent. If you have told the school why your child is absent, but they are off school for longer than a week, school may phone to check on how they are. The school record all reasons for absence. If you do not provide a reason why your child was off school, we have to record that absence as unauthorised.

HOLIDAYS IN SCHOOL TIME:

Government rule about taking holidays in school time are increasingly strict. In line with this, the school cannot allow any holidays unless there are really exceptional circumstances. This includes trips to country of origin, which can be made during school holiday times.

It is likely that parents/carers will receive a fine (Fixed Penalty Notice) from the council if they take their children on holiday during term time. If you need time off during school time please speak to the office for more details. 

 

HOW ABSENCES ARE COUNTED:

Attendance is counted in sessions. The school day is made up of two sessions, the morning and the afternoon. If a child is absent in the morning but comes into school in the afternoon, they have missed one session, if they are absent for the whole day they have missed two sessions.

 

AUTHORISED ABSENCES:

This is when the school authorises an absence because they agree that the reason is acceptable. For example:

• Illness severe enough to prevent the child coming to school
• Exceptional family circumstances
• Part of the day is missed for an essential medical appointment – routine check-ups should not be done in school time.

 

UNAUTHORISED ABSENCES:

This is when the school has not allowed the absences because the reason is not acceptable. For example:

• Taking a whole day off school for a medical appointment
• Minor illnesses or very frequent absences due to minor illness unless backed up with a medical note
• Holidays
• Birthdays or day trips
• Being tired
• Shopping

 

PERSISTENT ABSENTEES:

This is the group of children that schools and the council must particularly concentrate on because their attendance is poor. The Department for Education refers to a Persistent Absentee as pupils who have an attendance below a certain level. If your child has below 90% attendance, it means a child has been absent for 19 days in the school year and they are classed as being persistently absent. 

Persistent absenteeism is monitored weekly and children who have missed a certain number of sessions (half days) will be considered at risk of becoming persistent absentees by the end of the school year, and you may receive a letter to warn you of this. 

Persistent absence is monitored throughout the year and the names of children missing a high level of school time (regardless of the reason for absence) are collected by the Department for Education each half-term.

Even if an absence is authorised, it is still an absence and will count towards a final figure at the end of the year.

Persistent Absenteeism can result in Fixed Penalty Notice warnings and fines or legal action.

 

MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS:

We know that sometimes children need urgent appointments, or parents/carers are given very little choice about the times for hospital appointments. However, most appointments are routine, e.g. dental check-ups, non-urgent GP appointments. A lot of school time is missed due to routine medical appointments that could be arranged for a different time. While we understand that it can be hard to get appointments, we encourage parents/carers to make appointments outside of school time, or at least at the very beginning or end of the school day, so children miss the least amount of time.

 

WHY GOOD ATTENDANCE IS SO IMPORTANT:

At St Christopher's, we believe that a good education gives children opportunities for life. A good education starts with good attendance. Being in school regularly gives children the best chance to learn and to get the most out of all that school has to offer. This could be the chance to socialise and have friends and to be involved in a huge range of activities.

Attendance is important in every year group; in early years, children learn the foundations for all of their future learning, and every year, children learn more, building their knowledge and understanding.

 

PERCENTAGES IN TERMS OF DAYS:

We talk about attendance levels in terms of percentages, but what does that actually mean in days?

There are 190 days in a school year.

Percentage level          Days in school           Days absent

during the year           during the year          during the year

     100%           =            190 days           =      0 days

     97%             =            184 days           =       6 days

     95%             =            180 day             =      10 days

     90%             =            171 days            =      19 days

     85%             =            161 days            =       29 days

     80%             =            152 days            =       38 days

 

 

What we do:

As it is one of our whole school focuses, we have many initiatives to increase attendance and celebrate our achievements.

* It is a focus of our assemblies with the weekly figures announced and celebrated.

* We have our class Potato Heads to fill and get a class prize – 1 piece for over 96% attendance and 2 pieces for 100% attendance. Once filled, the class can choose their prize i.e. an extra playtime.

* Individual certificates every term for excellent (over 97% attendance) or 100% attendance.

* We also have attendance trophies for the best attended class every week and a 100% attendance trophy. 

* Twitter updates and tweets celebrating 100% daily class attendance or weekly 100% attendance.