Why is good attendance important?
Missing a few days of school here and there may not seem a big deal, but research shows that it can have a significant impact on children's learning.
Children who miss a substantial amount of school fall behind their peers, and struggle to catch up. Most of the work they miss is never made up, which can lead to big gaps in their learning.
Poor attendance often starts at primary school, and children who fall into this pattern are likely to underachieve at high school. Pupils who miss between 10 and 20% of school (that’s 19 to 38 days per year) stand only a 35% chance of achieving five or more good GCSEs, compared to 73% of those who miss fewer than 5% of school days.
Friendships can be affected by persistent absence, too: it can be hard for a child who misses lots of school to form relationships with their classmates.
What does good attendance look like?
The Government doesn’t set specific attendance targets, but schools are expected to set their own.
Our attendance target this year is 96.5%. This target recognises that children do sometimes fall ill and need to miss school.
Our attendance for Spring term was 94.7%
Is my child too ill for school?
Please follow the link below for up to date information and advice from the NHS
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NHS information |
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What is unauthorised absence?
Certain types of absence will be marked as unauthorised. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, agreed by the Head Teacher, time off for holidays is always unauthorised.
Absences where the parents haven’t given the school a reason are also recorded as unauthorised.
If your child is late to school and the registers have closed, they will be marked as an unauthorised absence, even if they turn up later in the day.
Our school Attendance policy states that a child who has more than 5 days (10 sessions) of unauthorised absences, in 1 academic year, will automatically be referred for a fixed penalty notice for each subsequent period of absence.
This can also include illness if no medical evidence, such as a doctor’s note, prescription, appointment card or other appropriate form of evidence can be provided after 3 consecutive days of illness.
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Attendance policy | [pdf 703KB] |
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Holiday in Term Time
The Department of Education state that parents/carers must seek permission from the head teacher if they want to take their child out of school during term time.
Any application for leave must only be in exceptional circumstances. Permission must be obtained by completing an application for leave of absence form at least four weeks before the expected absence. Forms can be obtained from the school office or completed online using the link below. the completed form must be returned to the office.
It is important to note that the head teacher can determine the length of the authorised absence as well as whether a particular absence is authorised. The head teacher may take a pupil’s record of attendance into account when making absence-related decisions. In the case of unauthorised absence, the decision to prosecute or seek a fine then rests with local authorities.
For further information, please go to https://www.eastriding.gov.uk/learning/schools-colleges-and-academies/school-attendance/holidays-during-term-time-and-authorised-absence-from-school/
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New Absence from School for Exceptional Circumsatnce request form including information to parents - from 19 August 2024 | [docx 66KB] |
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