At Alfred Street Junior School, we are committed to providing a full and efficient education to all. For a child to reach their full educational achievement, a high level of attendance is essential. Please see below the absence procedures and the School and Local Authority responses to poor attendance.
Why is good attendance important?
Students will:
- Keep up with work
- Understand the lessons
- Get better qualifications
- Have good friendships
- Expect to get higher paid jobs and careers
Impact of poor attendance
Students will:
- Not understand lessons
- Fall behind with their work
- Achieve less
- Get poorer qualifications
- Lose friends
- Be more likely to get into criminal activities
- Cause court action for their parents
How does attendance impact upon attainment?
- 90% attendance in a year means over 100 lessons have been missed.
- 90% attendance every year means that one year of schooling is missed.
- Absent from school means absent from learning.
What is considered poor attendance?
Ofsted set a target of achieving 96% attendance. Anything below 90% is classed as persistent absence and is a serious cause for concern.
Attendance Monitoring and Reporting Procedures:
We regulary monitor attendance and when attendance falls below 96% we issue a letter informing parents. If the attendance continues to be of a concern, an attendance target is set.
Persistent concerns may result in a referral being made to the Educational Entitlement Service. It is a criminal offence under Section 444 of the 1996 Education Act to fail to secure the regular attendance of a child who is a registered pupil of the school. On conviction, the Magistrates' Court may impose a fine or imprisonment, or both.
Northamptonshire County Council also require us to refer all children who have 5 days (10 sessions) (either consecutive or within a six week period) of unauthorised absence to them. The outcome could be a Penalty Notice payable directly to the Local Authority. The Penalty Notice is £60 per parent/carer for each student if paid within 21 days, increasing to £120 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days of issue.
Types of Absence
Each absence is classed as authorised or unauthorised. Absences are coded as authorised where reasons are considered valid and exceptional and unauthorised where no explanation is given or unacceptable reasons are given.
Authorised Absence
- Genuine illness resulting in unavoidable absence
- Religious observance
- Close family bereavement
Unauthorised Absence
- Looking after relatives
- Staying at home for deliveries/workmen
- Shopping
- Having a birthday
- Oversleeping
- Holidays
- Days out
- Parental illness
Government guidelines prevent Head Teachers from granting any leave of absence during term time, unless there are exceptional circumstances. (A family holiday during term time does not fall into the category of exceptional circumstances).
Medical/Dental Appointments
Wherever possible, please aim to arrange these outside of school hours. However, we know that this is not always possible. Where children need to attend such appointments, please complete a request for absence form and indicate in advance whether he/she will be returning to school. Medical and dental appointments count as authorised absences, so we ask that, where possible, you bring evidence of the appointment e.g. text confirmation, appointment card/letter.
Procedures to follow if your child is absent from school:
1) Please telephone the School Office on the first day of absence before 9:30am, leaving the child's name, class and reason for absence. This needs to be done everyday your child is absent from school.
2) Messages regarding absence may be left on the school's answer phone, sent via ParentAPPS, email or delivered in person.
3) We record all reported absences, so a letter from parents/carers is not required.
4) If we have not heard from a parent/carer by 9:30am as to why their child is absent from school, we will telephone the contact numbers we hold on file until contact is made. If no contact is made, we may carry out a home visit as part of our Safeguarding procedures.
If you have any concerns about your child's attendance. Please come in and talk to us.