Attendance
Our aim is to bring the best out of every pupil that attends Guilden Morden C of E Primary Academy
The Importance Of Attendance
Receiving a good full-time education will give your child the best possible start in life. Attending school regularly and punctually is essential if children are to make the most of the opportunities available to them.
If your child is registered at a school he/she must by law attend that school regularly and punctually. Your child should only miss school if he/she is ill or unable to attend for some other unavoidable reason.
If your child is absent and school either does not receive an explanation from you, or considers the explanation unsatisfactory, it will record your child’s absence as ‘unauthorised’.
Key information
A child becomes of compulsory school age when they reach the age of five and, where a parent has elected to register their child at school, they must start school in the term following their fifth birthday at the latest (although parents of many children choose to send them earlier). A child continues to be of compulsory school age until the last Friday in June in the school year that they reach the age of 16. After this age, the legal requirement to participate in education or training will fall to the young person.
Your child’s school will authorise most absences for acceptable reasons:
- sickness
- unavoidable medical or dental appointments (if possible, arrange these for after school or during school holidays)
- days of religious observance
Your rights and responsibilities - with parental responsibility
- You have a legal duty to ensure that your child receives an appropriate education.
- If your child is registered at a school, you must ensure that they attend.
What you can do
Make sure your child arrives at school on time. This encourages habits of good timekeeping and lessens any possible classroom disruption. If your child arrives after the register has closed without a good reason, this will be recorded as an ‘unauthorised’ absence for that session.
If your child has to miss school, it is vital that you let the school know why, preferably on the first morning of the absence (your child’s school will have an attendance policy explaining how this should be done).
If you know or think that your child is having difficulties attending school, you should contact the school. It is better to do this sooner rather than later, as most problems can be dealt with very quickly.
Our Attendance Target
The day begins at 8.45am
and all the
children are welcomed straight into their classes to begin their day and learning.
Entry is through the side gate for KS1 and EYFS or directly through the main entrance for KS2. The side gates/doors are closed at 8.55am.
If your child is late arriving at school, please take your child to the front office. As the register will have been marked, you will be asked to sign in the pupil book to confirm their attendance and their lunchtime arrangements. Registers will then be updated.
The day finishes at 3.15pm.
The children are collected from their classroom doors.
List of services
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Attendance figures explainedList Item 1
Attendance is based on a child being at school in time for the morning register as well as the afternoon register so being marked present for 2 sessions a day.
Both these sessions count towards their overall attendance figure which is simply a percentage of how many sessions your child has been present throughout the current academic year.
The only reasons a child will be marked as present when they are not in school are if they are being educated at a different location, or at a school event such as residential or sporting.
There are a variety of different reasons that a child may be absent from school and the school will assign an appropriate code on the register to make staff aware of the reason.
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Authorised AbsenceList Item 2
Absence from school can be authorised for the following reasons:
Medical appointments
Illness where the school has been notified by phone or in writing
Religious observance
NOTE: An authorised absence is still recorded as the child not being in school and will have a negative effect on their attendance figure.
Absence from school will be unauthorised in all other circumstances unless deemed to be ‘exceptional’ by the Headteacher. This does not apply to term-time holidays, which will always be unauthorised.
Please see the information below, from the Local Authority, regarding unauthorised term time leave.
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UNAUTHORISED TERM TIME LEAVE (includes Holiday):List Item 3
Any parent who takes a child out of school for term time leave of more than 6 consecutive sessions over a 4 week period, not authorised by the school (under exceptional circumstances rule), may receive a Penalty Notice. Such cases will have to be supported by evidence of previous unauthorised term time leave (more than 6 consecutive sessions over a 4 week period) taken in the last 3 years and evidence of parents being warned about a potential Penalty Notice.
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Why we feel a child’s attendance is so importantList Item 4
Children’s learning in school is based on a build up of skills and knowledge.
This build up is continually planned by teachers on a day to day basis. Children that miss one session could miss out on a potentially important session and although every effort is made to catch children up when they return, this is usually not as effective and takes time away from the rest of the class.
If children miss out on a number of sessions this can significantly affect their overall progress.
Children that are away from school on a regular basis can miss out on opportunities to build strong friendships and can sometimes find it harder to build strong friendships within school