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South Wilford Endowed C of E Primary School

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Attendance

This week's attendance champions are...

Tokyo Class!

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Attendance is everyone's business

Improving attendance is a priority at South Wilford. We place great emphasis on attendance and punctuality. For any child to reach their full potential it is important that they attend school regularly, arrive in good time and are fully prepared ready to learn.

 

The expectation of both the school and the Government is that every child has a minimum of 96% attendance. This would allow for only 7 days of absence per school year.

 

If your child is persistently absent from school, they face an uphill battle to achieve success. Studies have linked persistent absenteeism with a range of damaging factors, such as behavioural issues, a lack of social skills and poor academic performance. We all owe it to the children to give them the best possible start in life by allowing them to attend school, where they are safe, sociable and learning.

 

Our regular monitoring focuses not just on the whole school and individual classes and year groups, but individual pupils who might be facing particular challenges around getting to school on time or indeed at all.

 

If we have any concerns about your child’s attendance, a member of the attendance team will contact you to discuss the matter.

Punctuality

Punctuality is key in order to help your children succeed at school. The morning is where much of their core learning takes place, as well as being a great chance to start they day with some positive interactions with their peers and staff.

 

Lateness (after the closure of the register) must be recorded as a session missed. This means that parents may cross the threshold for a fixed penalty notice without realising. Remember, children are allowed on the playground from 8.30am. 

Attendance

Our attendance target for this year is 96% and our regular monitoring focuses not just on the whole school and individual classes and year groups, but individual pupils who might be facing particular challenges around getting to school on time or indeed at all.

 

We work in partnership with our colleagues at Transform Trust through our membership of their Attendance Group that meets half-termly to discuss trends, issues, legislation and campaigns to improve performance. We also collaborate closely with our Educational Welfare colleagues at Nottingham City Council who work with us on more complex cases that might involve other agencies.

 

Attendance impacted by illness
It is the expectation that you notify the school by telephone on the first day of your child’s absence and update us in the same manner on any following days. 

 

Please consider the impact of missing a day of school on your child when deciding on whether they are able to attend school. A range of reasonable adjustments can be made to make children more comfortable, without them losing out on their right to an education.

 

GPs will treat some illnesses with prescribed medicine e.g. antibiotics and penicillin. Often, once medication has taken effect and the child no longer poses a risk, they are ready to return to school but the course of medication has not been completed please bear in mind that we are happy to administer medicine during the school day subject to prior completion of our standard form.

 

Please refer to the below guidance as to whether your child's illness is severe enough to miss crucial learning.

Please speak to school office staff for more information.

 

Penalty Notice Fines for School Attendance have changed from 19th August 2024

 

With the introduction of the new National Framework for Penalty Notices issued by DfE, the following changes will come into force for School Penalty Notice Fines issued after 19th August 2024.

 

National Threshold

There will be a single consistent national threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered by all schools in England of 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period. These sessions do not have to be consecutive and can be made up of a combination of any type of unauthorised absence.

 

Please note: The DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance.

 

First Offence

The first time a Penalty Notice is issued for unauthorised absence the amount will be:

£160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days.

Reduced to £80 per child, per child if paid within 21 days.

(Per Parent, Per Child)

For example: 2 siblings absent from school for term time leave would result in each parent receiving 2 separate fines                                                          

 

Second Offence (within 3 years)

The Second time a penalty notice is issued for unauthorised absence the amount will be:

£160 per parent per child paid within 28 days.

No discount will be offered. 

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