Attendance

Attendance Expectations 
We believe that regular attendance at school is vital to help children achieve and get the best possible start in life.  Children who frequently miss school often fall behind and there is a strong link between good school attendance and achieving good results.  Our whole school attendance target is 96% or above and together we can achieve this.​

The School Day:
  • Starts from 8.45am & finishes at 3.10pm
  • This equates to 33 hours & 20 minutes per week

Parents are expected to:
  • It is a parent/carers responsibility to ensure their child of compulsory school age attends full-time education regularly & on time.
  • If your child is unable to attend, it is your responsibility to contact the school office on 01623 742734 by 8.15am of the day of absence giving an explanation as to why your child will not be in school.  If your child continues to be absent then please contact the school daily until your child is fit to return to school. 

Arriving to school on time
  • Any child/young person arriving before the register closes at 9.00am will be given a ‘L’ mark in the register.
  • Any child/young person arriving after the register closes at 9.00am will be given a ‘U’ mark. Please note that this is an unauthorised markThe afternoon register closes at 1.15pm.

Requesting a ‘Leave of Absence’ in term time
The Government issued new regulations in September 2013 regarding Leave of Absence; The Education
(Pupil Regulations) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended by Education (Pupil Regulations) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013. A leave of absence can be requested by completing a ‘Leave of Absence' form available from the school office. 
  • Head teachers shall not grant any Leave of Absence during term time unless they consider there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application. 
  • Parents/carers do not have any entitlement to take their children on holiday during term time.  Any application for leave must establish that there are exceptional circumstances, and the Principal must be satisfied that the circumstances warrant the granting of leave.  

Medical Appointments
Routine medical appointments such as dentist, opticians, etc should be made outside of the school day and a copy of appointment letter is required if this has not been possible.  All specialist medical appointments such as consultants, paediatricians, orthodontist, etc. may be authorised, as long as school is in receipt of a copy of the appointment letter. This needs to be provided to the school’s office.

Unexplained Absence from School
When no reason has been provided for a child/young person’s absence the school will initiate a First Day Contact’ response in line with ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023’ and ‘Children at Risk of Missing Education’. The following steps take place:
  1. If no contact has been made with school and the reason for absence is still unknown, a phone call will be made by school to try and establish the reason for your child’s absence.
  2. If no reason can be obtained for your child’s absence, then a home visit may be carried out.
Please note, we may also contact your identified emergency contact numbers on our school management system to establish the reason for your child’s absence.

Persistent Absence from School
A ‘persistent absentee’ is any child/young person whose attendance falls below 90%.
Absences will be unauthorised if a parent fails to provide a reason for absence or the school does not accept the reason for absence provided
Our school monitors attendance very closely, looking at patterns and trends of absence - this information will form part of a support plan when we work with parents to improve their child’s attendance at school.

Supporting parents
It is in the best interest of the child, family and school if problems with attendance are identified early.  School staff will support wherever possible in encouraging your child/young person to attend school regularly by creating a safe and welcoming environment to be in.



Section 7 of the 1996 Education Act states that parents have a duty to ensure their child (ren)’s regular attendance.  The Local Authority now have powers under sections 444, 444A and 444ZA of the Education Act 1996 to bring legal action against parents in order to enforce attendance at school.
An attendance percentage needs to be in the high nineties before it can be considered good, as the following examples show: 
  • An attendance record of 90% might seem good, but it is equal to 1 day missed per fortnight. Over a five year period this equates to six months education lost.  
  • An attendance record of 80% might seem acceptable, but is equal to 1 day missed per week. Over a five year period this equates to one years education lost. 
  • In order for an attendance record to be deemed good it must be 96% or above. 
  • An attendance percentage of 96%, equates to no more than 8 days of absence across the whole of the academic year (this includes illness, medical appointments and taking leave for funerals etc). 

We are asking for the support of all parents in improving attendance levels at Whaley Thorns Primary & Nursery School and although we may see some improvement, we must continue to work hard all year round to reach our school target of 96% or above. 

This means that all medical and dental appointments must be taken outside of school hours. If this is not possible then evidence will need to be provided to school for this to be authorised. 

​No requests for leave during term time will be authorised except for exceptional circumstances and all requests will be reviewed by the Principal.  These must be put in writing, where possible at least 14 days in advance.  You can obtain a form from the school office and if you send a message we will send a form home for completion.  Any leave taken without a form will automatically be unauthorised.  Unauthorised absences can lead to a fixed penalty notice being issued. 

At the end of each half term ‘traffic light letters’ will be sent to parents to keep you informed of your child’s current attendance percentage, to celebrate good attendance levels and to highlight any areas of concern. 
  
If your child receives a ‘GREEN’ traffic light letter, their attendance is 96% or above, which is fantastic! 

If your child receives an ‘AMBER’ traffic light letter, their attendance is between 90% - 95.9%. Although this is not yet “concerning”, they have had an above average amount of time off school. Attendance will be monitored closely and they will need to improve their attendance over the coming term.
 
If your child receives a ‘RED’ traffic light letter their attendance is below 90%.  This means they have had significant periods of time off school to date and are at risk of underachieving as a result. We would ask for your support in ensuring that attendance improves over the coming weeks. If, following a RED letter, your child’s attendance does not improve, we will contact you again, in order to discuss the situation further and invite you to a meeting at school to address concerns and offer support.  

In the Autumn Term we see a lot of children falling into the monitoring period. This is because the attendance percentage is worked out over the possible attendance at school and is a shorter period of time as it is one half term as opposed to a whole year percentage.  If you receive a red letter in the Autumn Term and your child had a genuine reason for absence there is no need for concern, the attendance will be monitored and your child’s attendance percentage will increase as long as no more time is taken away from school.  Everything from an unauthorised holiday to a medical appointment effects the overall attendance and is why we ask for appointments to be made outside of school time wherever possible.  

On top of this the school will be following an attendance rewards system to encourage good attendance. 

     "Attendance is Everyone's Business."  
                                        Encouraging excellent attendance by being in school, on time, every day.