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Regular attendance is essential for every pupil at Four Oaks Primary School. By attending school consistently and punctually, children gain uninterrupted access to the full curriculum, maximise their learning opportunities and build strong foundations for future success. Good attendance helps to support social development, academic progress and a sense of belonging within the school community. We appreciate your support in ensuring your child is in school each day unless absence is unavoidable - together we can give every child the best chance to thrive. 

Attendance Facts and Information

Please see the chart below which shows how important good attendance is to your child’s progress in school.

The Government's minimum expectation for attendance is 97%.  At Four Oaks, we encourage our families to strive for full attendance.

The chart shows how much learning time is lost when school days are missed. Even a small drop in attendance can add up to weeks of missed lessons over the course of a year. Here are some examples:

95% Attendance = 10 days your child has been absent. That is 2 weeks of school missed.

90% Attendance = 19 days your child has been absent. That is almost 4 weeks of school missed.

85% Attendance = 29 days your child has been absent. That is almost 6 weeks of school missed.

80% Attendance = 38 days your child has been absent. That is over 7 weeks of school missed.

The Education Welfare Officer (EWO) assigned to our school and Office staff have a statutory duty to monitor your child’s attendance carefully.  If your child has low attendance we will write to you so you have an opportunity to consider it and to support your child to improve their attendance before the EWO is left little option but to start issuing warning letters and / or requests for evidence such as medical letters to evidence that your child was too ill to attend school. If attendance still does not improve, an EWO can arrange for families to be issued with a Penalty Notice or Court Warnings. The Government consider Good Attendance to be that important!

We would be delighted to see your child in school every day and we reward all children for good attendance. We also employ colleagues to support you achieve this. For example:

Ms Jeanette Gordan, Family Support worker.     

Ms Kayleigh McCann, Seedlings                    

Ms Carol Deering, EWO, is also available to offer advice and support. Please make an appointment to meet her via the School Office.

Attendance Facts

The school day has two attendance sessions – Morning and Afternoon marks.
  • If your child seems unwell in the morning but seems better by lunchtime, please bring them into school for the afternoon session, this will help to keep your child’s attendance as high as possible.
  • If your child ever has to have an emergency medical appointment, please ensure that you try to make it at the beginning or end of a school day, this way your child would only miss a maximum of half a day for the appointment. You will need to show the Office your Medical Appointment card.

 

Punctuality Matters Being frequently late for school adds up to lost learning

  • Arriving 5 minutes late every day adds up to over 3 days lost each year.

  • Arriving 15 minutes late every day adds up to 2 weeks absence a year.

  • Arriving 30 minutes late every day adds up to almost 4 weeks absence a year.

 

Leave of Absence in Term Time
  • If you wish to take your child out of school for ANY reason during term time, you must formally request this in writing, addressed to the Headteacher.
  • Periods of absence during term time can only be authorised by the Head and then ONLY in exceptional circumstances.
  • Please remember in order for your request to be considered by the Headteacher, you must make the request prior to the absence otherwise it is always unauthorised.
  • Unauthorised absences may lead to parents/carers being issued with a penalty notice.
  • The first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
  • A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil in the rolling 3 year period is charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. There is no opportunity to pay a reduced amount.
  • A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within those 3 years, alternative action will be taken. This will often include considering prosecution but may include other tools such as one of the other attendance legal interventions.

 

School Days and Holidays

The school year has 190 days for pupils to attend a year. There are 175 days per year when your child does not have to attend school. These days could be used to:

  • Spend time together
  • Go on family visits
  • Visit friends and family
  • Go on holiday
  • Go shopping
  • Go on days out
  • Attend routine appointments

 

Other useful information

 

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