Attendance

Article 28 – All children have the right to a good quality education

 Attendance Matters!

Blackwater Community Primary School is committed to maximising the education of all our pupils and we aim to work with parents to ensure this can be achieved. If your child is late what does that actually mean?

Equals day’s worth of learning lost in a school year:
5 minutes = 3.4 Days
10 minutes = 6.9 Days
15 minutes  = 10.3 Days
20 minutes = 13.8 Days
30 minutes = 20.7 Days

When your child is absent the time lost adds up!
Days absent from school: Lessons/hours of learning lost      
1 Day’s Absence = 5 Lessons missed (5 Hours) 
3 Day’s Absence = 15 Lessons missed (15 Hours)
1 Week’s Absence = 25 Lessons missed (25 Hours)
2 Week’s Absence = 50 Lessons missed (50 Hours)

School Attendance

By law, all children of compulsory school age must get a suitable, full-time education. As a parent/carer, you are responsible for making sure this happens. Once your child is registered at Blackwater Community Primary School, you are responsible for making sure your child has regular and punctual attendance at school. 

The Local Authority (LA) is responsible for making sure that parents/carers fulfil their responsibilities, and the school must tell the LA if your child is regularly absent from school. As a parent/carer, you are committing an offence if you fail to make sure that your child attends school regularly. You run the risk of being prosecuted by the LA if your child’s attendance is poor.

Reporting School Absence

We appreciate there may be times your child is unwell or unable to attend school. As a parent you have a responsibility to:-

• Contact school on the first morning of absence, providing a reason for their absence.
• Keep school informed on a regular basis if your child is absent for a long period.
• Provide medical evidence if this has been requested by the school

If school are not informed and unable to contact you via text message / phone call regarding your child’s absence a letter will be sent requesting details of the absence. If this is not returned and still no reason for the absence is provided the absence will be marked as unauthorised.

Only head teachers can authorise absence and it is at their discretion as to whether the reason provided is acceptable or not. Below is a guideline for your information:

Attendance Procedures

The minimum acceptable level of school attendance is 96%.    We believe as a school that 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 involvement with the Local authority.   Below outlines the procedure that we follow to support and improve attendance:

• Attendance Review letters – sent home to indicate to parents/cares that attendance is starting to decline. This will be sent to students below 90% attendance.
• Medical Evidence Request Letter – sent home to request medical evidence to be provided to support absence, without this future absence will be marked as unauthorised. This could be in the form of an appointment card or proof of medication given by the doctor
• Parents/carers to be invited to attend a school attendance meeting to discuss concerns and set targets to improve attendance.
• If your child’s attendance falls to 90% or below, this is considered, by the Government, to be persistent absence. Where attendance falls below 90% and there are unauthorised absences, you will be invited to an Attendance Clinic with our Educational Welfare Officer from the Local Authority. 

Punctuality Matters too!

Missed minutes = missed learning = missed opportunities!

Being frequently late for school means lost learning:

• Arriving 5 minutes late every day adds up to over 3 days lost each year.
• Arriving 15 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year.
• Arriving 30 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 19 days a year.