WHOLE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE POLICY
Scargill Infant and Junior Schools are committed to providing a full and efficient education to all pupils and embrace the concept of equal opportunities for all.
We will endeavour to provide an environment where all pupils feel valued and welcome.
For a child to reach their full educational achievement a high level of school attendance is essential. We will consistently work towards a goal of 100% attendance for all children. Every opportunity will be used to convey to pupils and their parents or carers the importance of regular and punctual attendance.
School attendance is subject to various Education laws and this school attendance policy is written to reflect these laws and the guidance produced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Each year the schools will examine its attendance figures and set attendance/absence targets. These will reflect both national and local attendance targets.
The schools will review their systems for improving attendance at regular intervals to ensure that they are achieving their set goals.
This policy will contain within it the procedures that the schools will use to meet their attendance targets.
School Procedures
Any child who is absent from school at the morning or afternoon registration period will have their absence recorded as being authorised, unauthorised or as an approved educational activity. The head teacher or a member of staff acting on his/her behalf will authorise absence as appropriate. If there is no known reason for the absence at registration, then the absence will be recorded in the first instance as unauthorised. A range of support for parents will be made available where they (the parent/s) are seeking the schools assistance to encourage a child to attend school more regularly. This school will not ask children to remain at home, other than those that are formally fixed term or permanently excluded, unless there is a serious risk to the child in question or other children in the school. In this case this school will seek advice from the LA to establish a way forward.
Lateness
Morning registration will take place at the start of school at 8:55m. The registers will remain open for 20 minutes. Any pupil arriving after this time will be marked as having an unauthorised absence unless there is an acceptable explanation i.e. school transport was delayed. In cases for example, where the absence at registration was for attending an early morning medical appointment, the appropriate authorized absence code will be entered.
The afternoon registration will be at 1:15 PM for the Infant School and 1:00 PM for the Junior School
The registers will close at 1:25 PM for the Infant School and 1:10 PM for the Junior School
Pupils arriving after the start of school but before the end of the registration period will be treated for statistical purposes, as present, but will be coded as late before registers close.
First Day Absence
First day absence calling is a widely used practice in schools that has been demonstrated to have a successful impact on attendance and has improved attendance in schools between 2 and 5%. Both schools have adopted first day calling as part of its attendance policy. When a child is absent a call is made to the parent/carer asking for an explanation. If no explanation is received the absence will be marked as unauthorised until an acceptable reason is given. If an acceptable explanation is received the absence will be marked accordingly. First Day Absence calling will be undertaken by a member of the school staff.
Unexplained Absence
If a school has any cause for concern about a pupil who is absent without adequate explanation a referral will be made to the Education Welfare Service. This action does not preclude the school taking all the necessary steps to ensure that the child/children is/are safe. Details of any of the action taken by the school will be submitted to the Education Welfare Officer/Service in order that they are fully equipped with the necessary information. Unexplained absences and/or frequent absences can be a serious cause for concern and therefore in terms of the Safeguarding of Children and Young People, any unexplained absences will be a priority for this school.
Frequent Absence
In cases where a pupil begins to develop a pattern of absences, the school will try to resolve the problem with the parent/s. If the situation continues the school will seek advice from the school’s Education Welfare Officer (EWO). A range of professional staff may need to be alerted to the attendance concerns for this particular child, i.e. a child that has a statement of special need.
Welcome Back
It is important that upon return from an absence that all pupils are made to feel welcome and this school will adopt this approach. For example the pupil will be helped to catch up on missed work and brought up to date on any information that has been passed to the other pupils.
Absence notes
Notes received from parents explaining absence should be kept for the remainder of the academic year. If there are attendance concerns about the pupil, that may require further investigation, then the notes may need to be retained for a longer period. Notes may be submitted to the EWO if the Officer for the school is involved in the attendance issues for the particular child in question.
Promoting attendance
The school will use opportunities as they arise to remind parents/carers, that it is their responsibility
to ensure that their children receive their education.
The Home/School agreement is used in this way.
Pupil Leave of Absence for a Family Holiday and Extended Leave.
Both schools take a very firm view on such absences. In all cases requested leave of absence will not be granted and therefore will be unauthorised. There may be rare occasions, which would be termed exceptional circumstances, where the absence would be authorised by the Headteacher. If such circumstances arise parents will need to make an appointment to discuss the matter with the Headteacher and to write to the Governing Body outlining their reasons for the absence to be approved.
In partnership with the LA, the Governing Body and Headteacher of these schools have determined that they will adopt the borough guidance relating to this issue and therefore the school have included the LA Guidance within this policy (Appendix 1). Each parent of children on the roll of this school will be notified of the likely penalty they will face if their request is refused and they still take the child on leave.
Attendance Awards
Both schools reward pupils who have good or improving attendance in a variety of ways.
Attendance Targets
Both schools, in consultation with the LA, will set attendance targets each year. These targets will be based upon the previous years data on attendance and will always be aspirational.
Register Reviews
The Local Authority have a duty to regularly check the schools’ registers for accuracy and to check that the correct codes are used for recording absences and approved educational activities.
The register reviews are undertaken by the schools EWO as part of their role in improving attendance and these schools will ensure that the registers are available upon request for this audit. The information provided by the register review will inform the schools of any issues that need addressing.
Any concerns with the registers will be discussed with the school by the EWO.
Working Together with the LA
LA Officers have responsibility for ensuring that any decisions regarding legal intervention are progressed appropriately. In order that the LA can exercise their duty, our school staff will co-operate where required. A range of intervention is available for LA Officers, some of which involves the courts involvement. Where an EWO is taking a parent/parents to the Magistrates Court this school will provide all the necessary information in the form of ‘Certified Extracts’ of the register which will be required to be signed by the Headteacher in advance of the hearing. Intervention may require school staff to attend planning meetings which will be arranged by the LA, and both schools are fully committed to co-operating with all of these procedures.
· Formal Cautioning – this may include the need for a Headteacher or Senior Member of Staff to be in attendance.
· Penalty Notices (see Code of Conduct – Penalty Notices Appendix 2)) This school will consider any consultation that the LA implement in respect of Penalty Notices.
· Education Supervision Orders - this school will provide reports and other appropriate information to support the process of an ESO as instigated by the LA
· School Attendance Order Notices – this school will work with LA Officers where a SAO Notice is considered to be appropriate.
Persistence Absence
Both schools are committed to ensuring that their levels of children attending at less than 85% are priority. The PA status for any school is determined where in primary 2.4% of the school roll and in secondary where 7% of the school roll are attending at less than 85% of the time. Both schools will ensure that through the data analysis provided and via the LA Officer, any indications that either school is likely to be moving towards this category, priority will be given to working with the LA Officers in producing an urgent Implementation Plan which will outline the methods that will be introduced to address this issue. The School Evaluation Framework (SEF) contains details of the range of strategies that will be implemented. Senior Members of School staff will meet with LA Officers to ensure that the Implementation Plan is reviewed and updated regularly.
Attendance Reviews
The Governing Body of this school are fully committed to working closely with the LA and therefore welcome the opportunity of meeting with LA staff to discuss the status of the schools attendance. Governors welcome LA staff attending Full Governing Body Meetings where attendance matters are reviewed.
February 2009
Appendix 1
Guidance
Schools & PRUs
Pupil Leave Of Absence from School for Family Holidays
And Extended Leave
As part of the LA’s ongoing drive to improve the attendance levels in all schools this document has been developed to help head teachers make decisions about the timing, need and educational impact of a child being taken out of school for a holiday during term time. The regulations as outlined below clearly make the point that the head teacher acting within the policy of the governing body, makes the decision as to whether to authorise the holiday or not. However, it is clear through conversations with a number of head teachers that a common approach to this contentious aspect of attendance issues would be welcomed. The LA is of the view that only in exceptional circumstances should a holiday be authorised and detailed below some model guidance for schools.
Guidance
Holidays
· A clear procedure for requesting leave of absence should be available to parents and included in the school’s prospectus and policy statement which should make clear the schools position on such absence (see attached pro-forma application form).
· Each request for holiday absence should be considered carefully and individually. Remember such leave is NOT an entitlement.
In doing so the head teacher should consider the following before making a decision to authorise/unauthorised:
1. The child’s previous attendance history.
2. The child’s stage of education.
3. The time of year - (SATS or exams).
4. The nature of the trip - (an exceptional experience).
5. Whether the parents are restricted in terms of leave from their employer.
6. Exceptional Circumstances may apply to:
service personnel
8. Others in addition to 6 above who are prevented from taking holidays outside term-time if the holiday will have a minimal disruption to a pupil’s education;
9. When a family needs to spend time together at a time of crisis.
· Where the school does not authorise the request and the child is then absent from school, the absence must be marked as unauthorised.
· In line with Havering’s Code of Conduct (Penalty Notices) unauthorised holidays will be referred to the Education Welfare Service. A penalty notice may be issued in accordance with the Code of Conduct.
· In cases of authorised absence where the parents keep a child away for longer than agreed, the extra time should be marked as unauthorised.
· Leave of absence for more than two weeks can be authorised in exceptional circumstances only. Schools should carefully explore with parents why such leave of absence is necessary. Where such leave is sanctioned it constitutes authorised absence.
Supporting the above guidance are the following regulations:
2006 Pupil Registration Regulations as below:
1. Leave of absence
‘Schools must now be satisfied that the circumstances behind the request warrant agreeing to the absence, and consider that the leave of absence should be granted due to the special circumstances relating to that application’. Whilst the regulations do not discuss what ‘special circumstances’ may relate to, it is clear that ‘special’ means that only a few requests should be authorised.
2. Extended Leave
Where holidays of more than two weeks are planned to visit family members living overseas, schools may find it helpful to discuss with parents the most appropriate time of year and point in the pupil’s educational career for the visit. This could be timed to minimise the effects on the continuity of the pupil’s education. Where approval is given for such a holiday, schools may wish to consider making up a study pack or setting assignments for the pupil to complete while he or she is away.
Processes to support this guidance
It is important that management of extended leave comply with an overall school attendance policy and a partnership approach to home-school liaison.
As part of its monitoring and support function, the LA will:
· Disseminate good practice through its Strategic Attendance Policy
· Investigate unauthorised absences through the Education Welfare Team
· Initiate a ‘location of children’ investigation when a pupil is removed from the school’s admissions register because he/she has failed to attend school within ten days of their agreed return date.