Good attendance (over 96%) is key to your child being able to fulfil their potential and make good progress in school. Poor attendance impacts significantly on progress, learning, friendship groups and the child’s overall happiness at school. One of the most important ways a parent can support the education of their child and their child’s social, emotional, and academic development is to ensure they attend school every day and on time.
We believe that by identifying poor attendance and issues affecting attendance early as well as working in partnership with parents, we can significantly improve attendance and prevent a child becoming a persistent absentee and therefore involvement with the Local Authority
For those who fall below the 96% target for attendance, parents and carers can expect the school to consider further action that could include social services involvement, penalty notices, court proceedings and fines.
If you are having difficulties with your child’s attendance, please contact the school as soon as possible so that we can work together to resolve the issue. If you would prefer to speak to a member of staff the school office is open from 8.00am to 4.30pm Monday to Thursday and 8.00am to 4.00pm on Friday.
What to expect if your child’s attendance is below 95%
90% – 95% – Close monitoring of your child’s attendance
At 90% – Attendance Support Plan warning letter
At 88% – An Attendance Support Plan will be jointly agreed and put in place for your child.
If attendance does not improve, parents and carers can expect the school to consider further action. This could include referral to the Education Welfare Service at Southampton City Council, social services involvement, penalty notices, court proceedings and fines.
Punctuality
Punctuality is very important and late arrivals are recorded and monitored with similar follow up activities for children with poor attendance.
If your child arrives at school late they must report to the school office to be added to the register.
The school doors open at 8.40am and registration commences at 8.45am. If your child arrives after 8.50am they will receive a late mark. If they arrive after 9.10am, they will receive a U code (unauthorised absence), which means they do not receive a mark for the morning session.
Illness
We understand that children can become ill and may occasionally need to have time off school, however if your child has multiple episodes of illness or attendance is at 90% or below, we may require medical evidence to authorise any further absences.
If your child is unwell and you are unsure of whether to send them in to school a useful site to check here
Other Absences
Schools are only able to approve term-time leave of absence for exceptional circumstances. Leave of absence requests for the purposes of a family holiday are very unlikely to be approved and may incur a Fixed Penalty Notice. Changes to Fixed Penalty Notices for unauthorised school absence came into effect on 19th August 2024. Please click here for further information.
There are some reasons for absence that, under normal circumstances, will be approved without any problems: attending a family funeral, hospital, or medical appointments, for example. Even then, requests will only be granted within the bounds of a sensible amount of time and evidence may be requested.
Should you wish to put in a request for a leave of absence in term time, please request a Leave of Absence form at the school office.
Please click here to see our most recent Attendance Newsletter.
Please click here to see the school’s most recent Attendance Policy
