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Attendance

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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 minimum attendance that is recommended by Education Welfare Officer is 97%.

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 him 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.
  • If you have a period of unauthorised absence during term time, you may be subject to sanctions including a penalty notice which at present is £120 per child per adult. This is reduced to £60 per child per parent if paid within 28 days. Therefore if a family of 2 children take unauthorised leave during term time, the fine will be £240 for the Mother and £240 for the Father, reduced to £120 each if paid within 28 days.

 

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

 

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