Why attendance matters

Did you know that the statutory expectation is that a child attends school 96% of the year?

Regular school attendance allows a pupil to make positive relationships with staff and other pupils.

The more time children are in school, the quicker they make progress in their learning, and you can see that persistent absence can soon add up to a lot of missed days! We work hard to support families to ensure that the children’s attendance is as good as can be.

 

Absences

Of course, there will be times when your child is unable to attend school due to illness, and if that is the case, then call our Office to inform us of your child’s absence.

Sometimes though, you’re just not sure. Please send your child in to school and see how they do. We keep a close eye on all our children and if they are not able to manage the rest of the school day we will get in touch and look after them until you can get here. We work closely with our Education Welfare Officer (EWO) to carefully monitor the attendance of all of our children and to support families where school attendance needs to be even better.

Planned absences will only be authorised if there are extreme or extenuating circumstances - please note requests for holidays will not be authorised.

Punctuality

Poor punctuality only applies to a minority of our children but it is noted on a daily basis. The start of the school day is a crucial time for children to develop their social skills with their peers, as well as preparing them for their learning. Children who arrive late miss very important introductions to learning activities and new ideas. Please make every effort to ensure that your children arrive on time. At Central Street we have a ‘soft start’ to the day which not only makes it easier to be on time daily, but also means that the beginning of the school day is a calm and happy time for everyone - it’s a great way to start the day!

Being on time is so important: missing just 10 minutes of the school a day is the same as missing two weeks over the year!

You can help by:

  • Ringing on the first morning of all absences with the reason and saying when the child will return

  • Arranging dental and doctor’s appointments out of school hours or during school breaks

  • Keeping us updated regularly if your child has an extended period of absence due to illness

  • Sending your child to school if they are just a bit ‘under the weather’ - we will look after them and let you know if there is a problem.

We shall:

  • Follow up unexplained, prolonged or concerning absences with phone calls.

  • Closely monitor absence rates.

  • Remind parents / carers / families of the importance of regular attendance and punctuality

  • Let you know if we have concerns regarding your child’s attendance and support you in making improvements.

  • If we continue to have concerns we will make a referral to the Education Welfare Officer, who will visit the school to review the situation and advise on the action to be taken, and who may invite you to an Attendance Review Meeting to look at how we can work together to improve your child’s attendance.