Attendance
Attendance Team
Lianne Richardson
Attendance Lead
Ann Robson
Education Welfare Officer, Education Five
Attendance Matters
At Park End Primary School we promote good attendance to enable pupils to take full advantage of the educational opportunities we offer.
We ask parents to ensure that children arrive at school in good time for registration each day at 8.50am.
Our free breakfast club is open from 8.00am for all children from Reception to Year 6 for children of working families.
What to do if your child is absent from school
Please phone on the first day of absence leaving your child’s name, class and reason for absence. This needs to be repeated every day that your child is absent from school. These messages may be left on the school’s answer phone, or delivered in person.
If we have not heard from a parent by 9:30am as to why their child is absent from school, we will send a text message to find reason for absence.
Telephone calls and home visits will take place if we do not receive a reason for absence.
Unauthorised absences are taken very seriously and in the unlikely event that no contact can be made to establish a child’s whereabouts, the local authority or police will be contacted to ensure the safety of the child.
Medical Appointments
It is important that all medical/dental appointments are made for outside school hours. Sessions missed due to appointments will affect your child’s attendance percentage.
Please advise the office beforehand if children have to attend a medical appointment during school hours.
Please sign them in and out of school at the main office and provide evidence of the appointment e.g. text reminder of the appointment.
What is good attendance?
100%
Excellent attendance! Your child is able to access all of their learning, form friendships and get into good attendance habits. Children with excellent attendance are usually more settled in school and are able to enjoy all areas of school life. Children who have the best attendance are more likely to gain better qualifications and potentially earn more in the future.
95% and above
Very good attendance! Nationally, all schools and children are expected to achieve 96% attendance. Children are able to access most of their learning and are still likely to achieve good qualifications when they are older.
90% – 95%
Unsatisfactory attendance. Your child will be unable to access all of the teaching in school, which will have an impact on their learning and their readiness to learn. School will make contact with parent/carers to establish the reason your child’s attendance is declining and offer support to ensure that your child’s attendance increases.
90% and less
Research shows that missing 10% of school can result in children achieving significantly poorer results than their high attending peers. Any child with 90% and below is called a PERSISTENT ABSENTEE. At this stage school will discuss your child’s attendance with you and support you to improve your child’s attendance. If attendance does not improve, the local authority will instigate attendance procedures which may result in a fine.
Attendance facts
- 90% Attendance – This means that your child misses approximately 4 weeks of school a year. By the time they leave school they would have missed nearly A WHOLE YEAR OF SCHOOL.
- 80% Attendance – This means that you child misses approximately half a term each year. By the time they leave school they would have missed MORE THAN TWO WHOLE YEARS OF SCHOOL.
- Children are only expected to attend school for 190 days out of a whole year.
| Attendance during 1 School Year | Equals approx days absence | Which is approx weeks absence | Which is approx lessons missed |
| 95% | 9 days | 2 weeks | 40 lessons |
| 90% | 19 days | 4 weeks | 80 lessons |
| 85% | 29 days | 6 weeks | 120 lessons |
| 80% | 38 days | 8 weeks | 160 lessons |
| 75% | 48 days | 10 weeks | 200 lessons |
| 70% | 57 days | 11.5 weeks | 230 lessons |
| 65% | 67 days | 13.5 weeks | 270 lessons |
Family holidays
Please take your family holidays in school holidays only.
The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (as amended) sets out the law in respect of leave of absence for a pupil during term time. Head Teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Head Teachers should determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted. An application for leave of absence should be made to the Head Teacher, by a parent with whom the pupil normally resides, giving at least one month’s notice.
Punctuality
Punctuality is also extremely important to your child’s learning.
| Minutes late per day during the school year |
| 5 mins |
| 10 mins |
| 15 mins |
| 20 mins |
| 30 mins |
=
| Approx number of days teaching lost in a year |
| 3 days |
| 6 days |
| 9 days |
| 12 days |
| 18 days |
Support
If you require any support from school to improve your child’s attendance please contact Mrs Robson, Education Welfare Officer (Education Five), Mr Kumar, Pastoral and Safeguarding Officer or Mrs Richardson, Designated Safeguarding Lead. We are here to offer support.
