Attendance & Registration Policy

The Education (Pupils Attendance Records) Regulations 2008 and the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 1995 place a legal duty on schools to keep appropriate registers relating to the attendance of individual pupils.

 

We believe that all children should have the opportunity to benefit from their education and that we have a duty to work with parents to ensure that each child’s level of attendance is as high as possible.

 

Aims

1. To monitor levels of attendance and punctuality in order to ensure that a child’s right to education is valued
2. To ensure good practice in dealing with attendance and absence issues
3. To reward very good and improved attendance.

GUIDELINES

Managing Registration

All registers at Putnoe Lower School are maintained using the SIMS Attendance computer module.  Each class registration folder contains a Registration form for the current week, an Absence Report form detailing all previous unexplained absences and a current class list giving pupils’ personal details.

 

Registers are marked by the class teacher promptly at the start of the morning and afternoon sessions and the total number of children present indicated on the register.

 

The registers should be sent down to the school office no later than ten minutes after the start of the morning and afternoon sessions.

 

In line with Government guidelines parents have been advised of the need to contact the school on the first morning of a child's absence.  If no such notification is received the school is required to contact the parent/guardian, either by telephone or in person in order to ascertain the reason for absence. When a telephone message is received this is recorded and passed for the attention of the Education Welfare Assistant (EWA) who will record it on the daily absence and late sheets, she will then notify the class teacher as appropriate.

 

Any letters or messages regarding absences are recorded by the EWA on the Absence Report form.

 

All children who arrive late for school, i.e. after registration has been taken and the register taken to the school office, must report to the EWA.  The register is then amended with a late mark for the pupil concerned and the class total adjusted.

 

The following codes are used when completing the Absence Report form:

 

C         Other authorised circumstances

 

I           Illness

 

O         Unauthorised circumstances

 

F          Extended Family Holiday (agreed)

 

G        Unauthorised holiday

 

E          Excluded

 

L          Late

 

U        Late after 9.20am

 

P          Approved sporting activity

 

V          Education visit 

 

B          Educated off site

 

H         Annual family holiday (agreed)

 

M         Medical/dental appointment

 

R         Religious observance

 

T        Traveller absence

 

W         Work experience/educated at home

 

Monitoring Attendance

We aim to identify potential problems at an early stage.

 

On Friday of each week, after afternoon registration has been taken, the information contained on the Registration forms and the Absence Report forms is entered on to the computer. Registration forms for the following week and updated Absence Report forms are then printed and placed in the registration folder.

 

Unexplained absences are relatively rare and are reviewed on a weekly basis.  Where a child has been absent and no explanation received, the EWA contacts the parents either by ‘phone or text to ascertain the reason.

 

Where an absence remains unexplained after 2 weeks, the absence becomes unauthorised.

 

From 1.11.04 the LEA (Local Education Authority) was empowered to introduce Parenting Contracts Notices in order to tackle the problem of poor attendance when parents fail to co-operate with the school. The contracts are used to improve children’s attendance prior to a referral to the Education Welfare Service.

 

A Parenting Contract can be offered by the school’s governing body or the LEA and can be used to improve a child’s attendance. The contract is set up to help parents work together with the school to identify what support or measures need to be in place to facilitate improvement. Parents will agree to do certain things such as ensuring their child attends school every day or if punctuality is a problem, to ensure that the child is up by  ----  ‘o’ clock and has enough time for breakfast before leaving for school.

 

All attendance is closely monitored by the EWA who will advise the headteacher regarding concerns about individual pupils. The Education Welfare Officer routinely visits the school on a half termly basis and sometimes more often to review attendance and to identify pupils whose attendance is a concern (usually below 85%).

 

Official registers are produced on a monthly basis by the EWA and checked by the EWO. They are filed in the school office in the Official Registers folder, showing the record of any changes.

 

Lateness

Children who arrive late, ie. after the register has been marked, are given a late mark either by the class teacher or by the EWA. If a child arrives after 9.20 am he/she receives an ‘absent late’ mark which is unauthorised. If children arrive late due to public transport problems then they can be marked as present and not late or ‘absent late’.

 

Holidays in term-time

Please see Holiday Policy Appendix ‘A’

 

School Refusal

This is usually an indication of some deeper problem in the child’s personal or family life as well as major emotional, behavioural or learning difficulties. In such cases support from the Education Welfare Office and other agencies would be sought by the school. If parents are concerned about any outside issues affecting their child’s attendance they should contact the EWA.

 

Rewarding Good Attendance and Punctuality

The school has a legal duty to publish it absence figures to parents.  All parents receive information about attendance in their child’s annual report. Parents also receive regular updates from the EWA in the termly newsletter, keeping them informed of our whole school attendance figures and targets. Very good attendance or much improved attendance is rewarded on a termly basis in the form of certificates for the children. Throughout each term, incentive stickers are given to children whose attendance and punctuality improves. These are issued on either a daily or weekly basis.

 

The Attendance Cup is awarded on a weekly basis to the class with the highest attendance percentage and there is an Attendance Display in hall 1 confirming this.

 

Guidelines for Parents

Please see Appendix ‘B’.

 

There has probably never been a more important time for making sure that attendance at school receives a high priority in the minds of children, parents, staff and governors.  Children who miss out on education are at an immediate disadvantage relative to their peers, at great cost to themselves and to the community as a whole.  By working together, all those concerned to keep absence from school to the lowest possible figure can more effectively seek to ensure that as few children as possible experience more than the occasional difficulty.  Taking such a task seriously is in everyone’s interests.

 

This policy is reviewed annually by the Head Teacher and the EWA.