St Andrew’s C.E. Primary School

www.standrewsprimary.bizarredesigns.com
e-mail:head@st-andrews.lancs.sch.uk

Attendance Policy

Mission Statement

We celebrate the uniqueness of each child and educate and nurture in a safe, happy and Christian environment. We want each child to reach their full potential along a creative learning journey, providing exciting, challenging learning opportunities to our future working community.

Introduction

At the heart of everything we do at St Andrews is children’s learning. Children cannot learn when they are absent, however, and therefore we aim to ensure that our children take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. We also want to continue to raise standards by promoting regular attendance and punctuality of pupils. The following policy and procedures were adopted in consultation with children, staff, governors, parents and the Education Welfare Consultant.

Aims and Objectives

The Education Act 1996

This states that parents have the primary responsibility for ensuring that children of school age receive a suitable education, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. It is the responsibility of the LEA to ensure that parents meet these responsibilities. Attendance enforcement is now carried out by the Initial Assessment Team who provide a link between schools and families.

The school is required to inform the LEA if a pupil fails to attend regularly or has been absent for a continuous period of ten days and the absence is unauthorised. The Headteacher will notify the CAF Support Officer if there are concerns.

Pupil Registration

The school is required to maintain two registers:

The admission register contains a list of all pupils at the school. The school ensures that an attendance register for all pupils on the school is taken twice a day; once at the start of the morning session and once during the afternoon session. For each pupil, the register must be marked either as present, engaged in an approved educational activity away from the school site or absent. If the pupil is absent, the register must say whether or not the absence has been authorised by the school.

Authorised absence is where the school has either given approval in advance for a pupil of compulsory school age to be away, or has accepted an explanation offered afterwards as satisfactory justification for absence.

All other absences must be treated as unauthorised.

Parental Responsibilities and Involvement

Parents have the prime responsibility for ensuring that registered pupils of compulsory school age attend school regularly. If a child does not attend regularly, parents should work closely with the school and the ‘Early Intervention Team’ to resolve the problem. From 1 March 2001 parents found guilty of school attendance offences could be subject to a penalty of up to £2500 and/or a period of imprisonment for up to three months, or alternatively the LEA could recommend that a parenting order be enforced. At St Andrews we encourage a good working relationship with parents by regularly publicising the arrangements for notifying absence and the school’s policy towards authorised absence in the home-school agreement.

Parents of new pupils are reminded of their responsibilities in the welcome pack, including pupils who join the school mid-year. The importance of good attendance is discussed at the New Intake evening as well. Pupils with PA are sent an additional letter in the first instance. A pupil with PA at St Andrew’s is a pupil who has not attended for more than 20% of available sessions.

Lateness

Morning registration will take place at the start of school. The registers will remain open for thirty minutes. Any pupil arriving after this time will be marked as having an unauthorised absence unless an explanation given is accepted as grounds for authorising the late arrival. Parents of children who arrive late regularly will be contacted by the Headteacher to inform them of concerns and to support them to rectify the situation. If lateness is consistent and parents do not respond to support then a referral will be made via a CAF.

Ten Day’s Absence

Any pupil who is absent without an explanation for 10 consecutive days will be referred to the Initial Assessment Team, which is a legal requirement.

Frequent Absence

Parents are expected to contact the school on the first day of absence. The School’s Attendance Officer will ring the parents to discover the reason for absence if school has not been contacted. This is to ensure the child’s safety and a detailed log is kept in the office. The school will discuss with the school nurse those pupils who frequently miss days for medical reasons to see if further support is needed.

If attendance falls below 88% and school has concerns, or if there is persistent absence the following actions will be taken:

Patterns of attendance concerns are monitored by user-defined groups set up in SIMs.

Pupils are welcomed back into school after absence, and are helped to catch up with any missed work and information.

Circumstances where a Penalty Notice may be issued:

To ensure consistent and equitable delivery and avoid duplication, the local delivery of the Penalty Notice scheme is solely vested within the Education Welfare Service (EWS).

A Penalty Notice will only be issued in cases of unauthorised absence. Any schools submitting requests must adhere to the guidance on the marking of registers issued by the Local Authority pertaining to whether an absence is authorised or unauthorised. This guidance can be found in the Education Welfare Service Specification and other relevant documentation.

Use of Penalty Notices will be restricted to 2 per pupil, per parent, in any one school year. There will be no restriction on the number of times a formal warning may be given about the possible issue of a Penalty Notice.

Circumstances in which a Penalty Notice may be issued include:

This is not an exhaustive list and each case will be considered individually.

A minimum evidential requirement of 20 sessions lost to unauthorised absence by any pupil during the school year and/or 12 school sessions lost in the current term may also trigger the process.

A formal warning will be issued initially to allow the parent/carer 15 days to effectively improve the situation prior to issuing a Penalty Notice.

Procedure for Issuing Penalty Notices

The Education Welfare Service will issue Penalty Notices on behalf of the Local Authority in Lancashire. This will ensure consistent and equitable delivery, maintain home/school relationships and complement other enforcement measures.

Penalty Notices will only be issued by first class post (which constitutes good service) and never hand delivered. This will ensure that evidential requirements are in place and meet Health and Safety requirements by avoiding potential face-to-face confrontation.

Requests from schools and the Police to issue Penalty Notices will be considered by the Education Welfare Service provided that:

The EWS will respond to all requests for the issue of a Penalty Notice within 10 school days, providing all criteria are met. The EWS will then either:

Or investigate other interventions that may be more appropriate.

Procedure for Withdrawing Penalty Notices

Once issued, a Penalty Notice will only be withdrawn in the following circumstances:

Where a Notice is withdrawn, the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) of the Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2004 will be satisfied by the LEA.

Absence Notes

The school requires written notes or telephone messages explaining reasons for absence for every period of absence. If no explanation is received from a parent, then the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.

Holidays in Term Time

The school actively discourages the taking of holidays in term time. Holidays booked simply for cheap family holidays are not permitted, although we accept that in some cases allowances have to be made. The school is only able to authorise holiday absences for a maximum of ten days a year. The parents apply for holiday absence during term time via the school holiday form. The school office administrator then indicates to the class teacher when the absence is authorised, by marking the holiday in pencil.

This policy was reviewed in November 2010

Mrs C Wilkinson (Headteacher)