COLDEAN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Why is regular school attendance so important?

Coldean Primary School works closely with children and parents in connection with attendance so that each child can achieve their full potential. By law, all children of compulsory school age (five to sixteen) must receive a suitable full-time education. Once your child is registered at school, you are legally responsible for making sure that they attend regularly and on time.  

In a perfect world everyone would be in school for the full 190 days every year. 

Without missing any days the children would achieve 100 percent attendance.

Being realistic we understand that children sometimes get ill, therefore we aim that all children are in school for a minimum of 96 percent of the year.

In an exam most people would be happy to get 80 or 90 percent.  However, when talking about attendance these figures actually mean children have missed a significant number of days learning.  And the number of days missed gets bigger for each percentage as the year progresses.

If a child is sitting with attendance around 90% by the end of the year they have missed almost 4 weeks (a month) in school. 

It stands to reason that by missing more days in school children make less academic progress than their classmates who attend regularly.  Not coming to school has a negative impact on the progress children are making in their learning.  By missing out on regular schooling some children are having to constantly try to play catch up.  Having chunks of knowledge missing really disadvantages children compared to their classmates (for instance if they miss out the lesson that explain what a fraction is they will really struggle when they start doing calculations involving fractions with different denominators).

By not attending school regularly children also miss out on spending time with their friends.  Infrequent attendance can have a negative impact on children’s friendships. 

Being absent from school can increase anxieties and have a detrimental effect on children’s mental health due to the fact that friendship groups move on while they are away from school. 

These issues can be overcome by simply ensuring children attend school every day

Pupils are expected to attend school every day and we hope to keep their attendance at, or above, 96 percent throughout the year.

Punctuality

Children are expected to be at school every day on time.  Register is taken 5 minutes after the doors open.

Any late children must enter the school via the front office with their parent/carer and the late book must be completed by the parent/carer.

If children are not picked up on time at the end of the school day, the teacher will take them to the front office and office staff will phone parents/guardians.  

If you know you are going to be late for pick-up please contact the school on 01273 094911 so we can let your child know and alleviate any worries they may have.

Sickness

Children do get ill which does mean they may need to have a few days off school.  I am aware however that sometimes children are missing school when they could be in the building.  The traffic light guidance below may help you decide if your child is well enough to come into school.

If your child is having a regular, reoccurring medical issue please let us know.  We could get the school nurse involved and hopefully address your child’s medical needs and improve their attendance.

Holidays in Term Time

The school requires parents to observe the school holidays as prescribed; therefore, Mr McConnachie will be unable to authorise holidays during term-time in most cases. He is only allowed to grant a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. Applications will be made in advance.

Any leave of absence is at the discretion of Mr McConnachie. Any requests for leave during term-time will be considered on an individual basis and the pupil’s previous attendance record will be taken into account.  Examples of possible exceptional circumstances:

• Where it is company/organisational policy for an employee to take leave at a specified time in the year and there is no opportunity for a family holiday in school holidays. This must be supported by documentation from the organisation.
• Service personnel returning from/scheduled to embark upon a tour of duty abroad.
• A major family event such as the wedding of an immediate family member
• Serious or terminal illness of a close relative
• Significant family trauma has occurred and it is believed that a break is in the child’s best interests.

Requests for leave will not be granted in the following circumstances:

• Immediately before and during assessment periods
• When a pupil’s attendance record shows any unauthorised absence
• Where a pupil’s authorised absence record is already above 10 percent for any reason

We fully understand that it is cheaper to go on holiday during term time but as a school we can only authorise an absence during term time in exceptional circumstances.  A cheap deal is not deemed an exceptional circumstance. 

If children need to be taken out of school during term time parents/carers need to complete a Leave of Absence Form – available from the school office.

If children are taken on an unauthorised holiday of more than 3 days during term time parents/carers will be issued with a fixed term penalty by the Local Authority.