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Attendance

ATTENDANCE…

Make Everyday Matter!

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School is committed to providing the best educational experience for all children and good attendance and punctuality is critical to this outcome.

Every Day Counts!

It is vital that pupils attend school, on time, every day in order to gain the greatest benefit from their education.

 Attendance:

The school door is opened at 8.40am and registration takes place at 8.45am and school finishes at 3.15pm.

We expect pupils to arrive and to be collected punctually at the start and end of each day. If your child arrives after 8.45am they will be recorded in the registers as late.

Persistent lateness, 10 or more recorded late marks in one half term, will result in a request for a parental meeting to discuss any support the school can offer to improve punctuality.

Absence:

If your child is significantly unwell and unable to attend school, we request that parents/carers telephone or email the school office before 8.45am and clearly state the reason for their absence.

Where possible, we ask that medical appointments are arranged outside of the school day. Where this is not possible, please bring the appointment letter/card to the school office in advance.

Strategies at St Joseph’s:

  • Parents/carers must telephone or email the school if their child/children are absent before 8:45 and school must be informed by 9:30am.
  • The Learning Mentor will make telephone contact with home when a child is absent and parents/carers have not notified school.
  • If no contact is made a visit will be made by members of staff to the child’s home.
  • Where a pupil is developing a pattern of ‘occasional’ absences the parent/carer will be contacted to discuss the pattern of absences.
  • The school will use welfare and attendance officers to follow up absences that are causing concern
  • Where necessary the school will work closely with the LA to take action against those unlawfully keeping pupils from school

DID YOU KNOW…

…that 2 weeks absent from school brings a child’s attendance down to 87%

…a child who is absent a day of school per week misses an equivalent of two years of their school life

Intervening with Attendance Concerns:

Where we have concerns around a pupil’s attendance we may intervene in one or more of the following ways:

  • The Learning Mentor will review the attendance of all the schools pupils on a half termly basis and any pupils identified as a cause for concern (those 93% and below) will have their attendance monitored on a more regular basis.
  • A letter will be sent to the parents of any pupil identified as having low attendance, informing them of the school’s concerns and offering support to resolve any problems that may be impeding a child from attending.
  • Where patterns are identified a phone call or meeting between the parent/carer and Learning Mentor may take place to discuss the pattern and resolve any issues preventing attendance.
  • If over the half term if attendance has not improved a follow up meeting will be arranged with the head teacher, learning mentor and parent/carer.
  • Failure to improve will result in a referral to the Attendance service within the Local Authority and Court Proceedings.

Please see our Attendance Meetings Flowchart.

TIPS FOR GOOD ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY:

Children should go to bed early enough: Tired children are hard to wake up and find it difficult to learn. Going to bed at a reasonable time makes things easier for them and you.

Be in school regularly an on time: It is settling for children and helps them get into a routine. The more regularly they are in school and on time the more they get used to it.

Get up early enough: Avoid rushing and feeling stressed. Get up early enough and give yourself enough time to get ready.

Limit TV or game time in the morning: Avoid arguments and lateness by limiting how long they are allowed to watch TV or play games in the morning. If it regularly causes problems think about banning it completely in the mornings.

Get things ready the night before: If uniforms, packed lunches, etc. are ready the night before it saves a lot of time in the mornings.

Make time for breakfast – or come to Breakfast Club at school: Making time for breakfast can help to keep things calm in the morning and saves time rather than having to stop at the shops on the way to school. Or come to our school Breakfast Club where children have time to eat, play and get ready for the school day. The club opens at 8.00am.

If you are having difficulty in getting your child into school on time every day and would like some support from school please contact your child’s class teacher or the Learning mentors through the school office.

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