Somers Heath

Attendance Policy

February 2014

“Reducing absence and persistent absence is a vital and integral part of schools’ and local authorities’ work to:

Promote children’s welfare and safeguarding;

Ensure every pupil has access to the full time education to which they are entitled;

Ensure that pupils succeed whilst at school; and

Ensure that pupils have access to the widest possible range of opportunities when they leave school.”

(Department for Children, Education and Families)

Aim/Purpose

This policy sets out the principles, procedures and practices followed by the Lakeside Partnership of schools in managing, monitoring and improving attendance in a clear and co-ordinated way.

Parents have the prime responsibility for sending their children to school regularly and on time, whilst every member of staff in the school has a responsibility and duty to promote good attendance.

In order for this policy to be effective it must be consistently applied throughout the whole cluster and by all staff

Schools have a responsibility to identify and understand reasons for poor attendance and support the family in improving (e.g. via MAG Panel, Young Carers, etc.).

Responsibilities and Expectations of Parents/Carers and Pupils

  • Every child of compulsory school age must be registered at school or alternative arrangements need to be made to provide a suitable education
  • Parents/carers have a duty to ensure that their children attend school regularly and on time
  • Comply with the Home-School Agreement
  • Parents/carers are responsible for ensuring their child arrives at school, on time, suitably dressed and in a fit condition to learn
  • Parents/carers are responsible for contacting school on the first day of a child’s absence, providing a reason for absence and an expected return date
  • Wherever possible, parents/carers should make appointments for visits to doctors and dentists outside of school hours
  • Parents/carers should keep the school informed of any changes or circumstances that may affect attendance
  • Parents/carers should support the cluster in their endeavour to improve attendance by adhering to the zero tolerance policy and taking holidays out of term time
  • Parents/carers should request term time leave only in exceptional circumstances, using the cluster’s Exceptional Term Time Leave Request Form accompanied with any supporting evidence

Roles and Responsibilities of School Staff

Governors

  • Support the PartnershipPolicy

Headteacher/Senior Leader

  • Set and submit annual targets for reducing absence (normally by 31st December each year)
  • Appoint an attendance officer to undertake an administration role
  • Implement Local Authority Policy

Attendance Administrator / Office Staff

  • Conduct 1st day absence calls in the case of non-notified absence
  • Report back as required on attendance of identified pupil groups eg ‘looked-after’ children
  • Regularly and routinely monitor attendance trends within the school
  • Update day to day attendance data onto the SIMS system
  • Instigate letters requesting details and reasons for absence
  • Produce data summaries as requested by senior staff, managers and the cluster within the first week of each half term (except September)
  • Implement Scale of Escalation (see last page).

Class Teachers / Form tutors

  • Conduct registration at least twice daily
  • Raise concerns regarding attendance with senior teacher/attendance manager
  • Liaise with parents and discuss concerns/issues re attendance

Registration Procedures including Punctuality/Lateness

  • School starts at 8.55 a.m. for the morning session and 1.00 p.m. for the afternoon session, when children are greeted and collected from their designated playgrounds by their classteacher
  • If children arrive after the classes have gone into the building either they, or their parent, should attend the designated Late Register to ensure that an attendance mark and lunch is recorded
  • The registers are open for 15 minutes. If children arrive during this period (but after the register has been called) they are marked with an ‘L’ for late – this mark can be recorded by either the class teacher or administrator in the office
  • Registrations are completed at least twice a day at the start of both sessions – morning and afternoon
  • The office records all pupils who are late arrivals and reasons why on a daily basis

Categories of Absence

  • Illness, medical and dental appointments: Such absences may be authorised, provided that the school is satisfied that the illness, appointments etc are genuine. It is legitimate to request evidence. The evidence does not have to be a doctors certificate. Sight of the medicine bottle, appointment card or a copy of the prescription may also be sufficient.
  • Minding the house/looking after brothers and sisters: Almost always unauthorised. Schools need to decide whether there are Child Protection implications and refer to appropriate agencies.
  • Shopping during school hours: Always unauthorised.
  • Special occasions: almost always unauthorised, advance permission should be sought
  • Family bereavement: Schools should respond sensitively to requests for leave of absence to attend funerals or associated events. The parent should seek permission from the school in writing.
  • Educated offsite:If a parent notifies school in writing that they intend to withdraw their child from school to home-educate, the school must then remove the child from the school roll, and inform the LA within 10 working days. The school will inform Education Welfare Service immediately.

Exclusion is treated as an authorised absence, unless full-time provision is made but the pupil does not attend and there is no reason given, or the reason is considered inadequate, in which case it will be unauthorised absence.

  • Term Time Holiday:Although Regulation 7 of The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 gives schools discretionary power to grant leave up to 10 days for the purpose of an annual holiday during term time, this is not an automatic entitlement and parents and guardians have no legal right to take children on holiday during term time.

The school has total discretion in maintaining this legal position. The school also has a duty in law to keep pupil absence to a minimum. Nationally, Government policy is to encourage schools to minimise the amount of teaching and learning time lost as a result of term time holidays, and schools are now expected to adopt a much more challenging response to such requests. They are also required to set targets to improve attendance – term time holiday absence is a particular category of absence on which schools are now expected to focus.

For all the above reasons requests from parents or carers for children to be allowed to take leave during term time will normally be refused.

Exceptional Term Time Leave

  • Guidance from Thurrock Council states that term time leave is not an entitlement and parents and guardians have no legal right to take children on holiday during term time.
  • All exceptional term time leave must be requested in advance and authorisation sought
  • When authorising term time leave, due consideration is given to the child’s attendance history from the previous 3 years
  • Requests for term time leave that coincide with SATs testing and examinations will not be authorised
  • Each case will be dealt with on an individual basis

Penalty Notices

Penalty Notices can only be issued in cases of unauthorised absence, and in one or more of the following circumstances. In the first three cases a letter warning that a Penalty Notice could be issued must be sent first.

  • At least 19 session of unauthorised absence are recorded against the pupil’s name with the previous 12 weeks. One session is a half day.
  • The parent is not willing to take responsibility for securing their child’s attendance and has not co-operated with any proposed voluntary or supportive measures.
  • The Education Welfare Officer believe that issuing a Penalty Notice could avoid further absence, in the early stages of an existing case, for example, where a parent continually fails to provide an explanation for a pupil’s absence when requested to do so.
  • If a Head Teacher does not authorise a request from a parent for term time leave of absence and the parent takes the leave. In such circumstances, the school must advise parents of this and how the action conforms to the school’s attendance policy. There must be at least 10 sessions of unauthorised term time leave of absence taken in a six week period. No warning letter will be given.
  • Where a pupil of compulsory school age who has been excluded from school, either for a fixed period or permanently is found to be present in a public place during school hours in the first five days of the exclusion, without reasonable justification. The parent must have been notified in writing by the school at the time of the exclusion of this and the days to which it applies

June 2015

Scale of Escalation

Improved

No Improvement

Improved Senior Lead

Improved No Improvement

Senior Lead

No Improvement No Improvement

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