ATTENDANCE
Congratulations to Year 3 whose attendance was the highest in school last half term, please click on the link below.
At Baildon Church of England Primary School, we have high expectations for attendance and punctuality of all our pupils.
We have an effective whole school attendance strategy which requires commitment from every member of the school community.
Key principles of our strategy include:
Leadership & Management
- Mr Holmes (Deputy Headteacher) is our Attendance Lead in school.
- The Office team support with attendance.
- All staff in school are aware of their role in supporting pupils to have high expectations of attendance and punctuality.
Relationships & Communication
- Trusting relationships are built between staff, pupils, families and stakeholders to secure trust and engagement.
- We communicate openly and honestly with staff, pupils and families about expectations of attendance.
- We liaise effectively with outside agencies working with pupils and families to support attendance.
Systems & Data
- We closely track and monitor the attendance and punctuality of all pupils to give an accurate picture of attendance and patterns amongst groups.
- We provide regular reports to staff to enable them to track the attendance of target pupils.
Intervention
- We monitor and analyse data regularly to ensure early interventions.
- We use attendance, pastoral and SEND staff to identify and overcome barriers to absence.
- We create action plans in partnership with families and other agencies.
- We follow local authority codes of conduct, policies and procedures.
Good Attendance
Good attendance is important because:
- Statistics show a direct link between under-achievement and absence below 95%.
- Regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically.
- Regular attenders find school routines, school work and friendships easier to cope with.
- Regular attenders find learning more satisfying.
- Regular attenders are more successful in transitioning between primary school, secondary school, higher education and employment or training.
- Attending school regularly safeguards the welfare of children whilst they are not in the care of their parents/carers.
How do we communicate?
At Baildon Church of England Primary School, we communicate regularly and effectively with both parents/carers and pupils about the importance of good attendance in the following ways:
Parents/Carers
- The School Newsletter
- The School Prospectus
- Consultation Evening
- The School Website
- Letters, phone calls and attendance meetings if attendance or punctuality is a concern.
Pupils
- Achievement Assemblies
- Termly certificates- 97% and above and certificates for those children with the most improved attendance
- Year group attendance rewards every term
- End of year reward and certificates for children with 97% and above attendance.
Attendance Matters!
Everyday your child is absent from school is an opportunity missed as it is well known that good school attendance affects a child's success in learning.
The Education Act 1996 states that all pupils should attend school regularly and punctually. Both parents and schools have a shared responsibility to ensure that this happens.
Attending school every day will enable your child to:
- Learn new skills
- Make friends and build lasting relationships
- Develop confidence
- Develop good routines.
Punctuality
Good punctuality is essential to help children achieve their full educational potential and it will help them to be punctual later in life.
At our school:
- Staff greet children and parents/carers in the playground at 8:40am.
- School starts at 8:50am for registration.
- School finishes at 3:15pm (3:30pm for Nursery).
The Compulsory time pupils spend in school from Reception to Year 6 is 32.50 hours per week.
When children arrive at school regularly late it can:
- be embarrassing and affect their confidence
- disrupt learning and lessons
- cause them to fall behind
- create bad habits.
What you can do to help!
- Aim for 10 hours of sleep per night for your child as this will make the following day at school much easier for them to cope with.
- Make sure your child eats breakfast as this helps them stay alert at school.
- Help your child to develop good night time routines by checking their homework, reading, getting their school bag ready for the next day and going to bed at a reasonable time.
- Try and make any medical/dental appointments for after the school day.
- Never take holidays during term time.
- If you know your child is going to be absent from school on a particular day, please let us know.
- If your child is ill, ring the school as soon as possible on the first day of their absence.
Absence
Absence during term time as a result of holiday/leave of absence interrupts continuity of teaching and learning and disrupts the educational progress of individual children. Bradford Children's Services aims to minimise the amount of time lost to term time holiday/leave of absence through a policy which actively discourages parents from arranging family holidays, trip abroad etc. during term-time and supports schools to authorise absence for such leave ONLY in exceptional circumstances.
Parents should not take their children out of school without first seeking the schools permission. Families do not have a right to take their children out of school for the purposes of family holidays or trips abroad. Parents should always speak to the school prior to any absence to discuss any information that they feel should be taken into consideration by the Headteacher in deciding whether to authorise the absence.
The DfE guidance instructs Headteachers NOT to authorise leave of absence in term time. Permission for this type of absence should only be granted in the most exceptional circumstances. It is for Headteachers to determine what are 'exceptional circumstances' and apply these consistently and equitably.
The following reasons will NOT be considered acceptable reasons for requesting leave of absence in term time:-
- availability of cheap holidays
- availability of desired accommodation
- poor weather experienced in school holiday periods
The Local Code of Conduct allows for Penalty Notices to be issued to parent/carers if they fail to ensure that their child/ren attend school regularly. This could be due to a holiday in term time or other periods of absence that are not authorised by the school.
Penalty Notices give parent/carers an opportunity to avoid prosecution. If a penalty notice is paid parent/carers will not be prosecuted.
The school make a request to the council to issue a Penalty Notice. The role of the council is to ensure it is issued in line with the Local Code of Conduct. A Penalty Notice will only be withdrawn if there is sound evidence that it should not have been issued in the first place.
Penalty Notices are issued to both parent/carers of each child and must be paid in full within 21 days – instalments cannot be accepted. After 21 days the Penalty Notice increases to £120 each and must be paid within 28 days of issue to avoid prosecution at the Magistrates’ Court, which could lead to a criminal conviction. If a parent is found guilty in court they can be fined up to £1,000.
