ATTENDANCE
Good school attendance enables children to feel confident and happy about their learning and the activities that they participate in. As a parent, you can support your child to enjoy school life to the full by ensuring they attend school every day and on time.
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Who is here to help with attendance?
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Class teachers
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Mrs Burton (Deputy Headteacher/Inclusion Lead)
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Inclusion Team (contact via office)
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We aim to build a strong partnership with parents to work together collaboratively with regards to attendance. All of the above steps are meant with the best intentions and have your child’s best interests at heart.
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Learning missed in a school year
This graph shows the number of school days missed per year and the percentage equivalence.
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Attendance
When a child attends school on a regular basis, they take an important step towards reaching their full potential, and are given the greatest opportunity to learn new things and develop their skills. Children who miss school frequently can fall behind with their learning and do less well academically, impacting on exam results and future career pathways. The more time a child spends around other children, whether in the classroom or as part of a school team or club, the more chance they have of making friends and feeling included, boosting social skills, confidence and self-esteem.
It is essential that our pupils form good habits of regular attendance at school from an early age and that excellent attendance is maintained throughout their school career.
What does the law say?
It is the duty of a parent of a registered pupil of a school to secure their regular attendance at school. This applies to all children of compulsory school age. As a parent you are legally responsible for making this happen.
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What to do if your child is absent
If your child is absent you must:
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Contact school before 9:00a.m on the first morning of absence by using the office email (office@skps.email) or leaving a voicemail (01202 426663)
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Keep school informed on a regular basis if your child is absent for a long period
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Send medical evidence where necessary
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If a child's absence is not reported you will receive a phone call/text/email from the school office.
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If we cannot make contact with families, we may need to contact social care or the police.
Regular appointments e.g. doctors and dentists
We encourage parents to make routine medical or dental appointments outside of school hours wherever possible. Of course, the school appreciates that there are situations when this is not possible e.g. hospital appointments or meetings with specialists. If a medical appointment must take place during the school day, the school requires proof where possible of the appointment (for example an appointment letter) to be emailed/sent to the School Office.
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Leave of absence request
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​​​​​​​​​​Parents do not have an automatic right to remove their child from school during term time for the purpose of a holiday and the school does not authorise term-time holidays.
Head Teachers are only allowed to grant leave of absence from school in exceptional circumstances. The decision as to whether any request is considered as ‘exceptional circumstances’ rests solely with the Head Teacher.
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Any request must be made prior to the leave of absence by completing a Leave of Absence Request form and emailing the completed form to the school office. The form can be found here.
We will follow the latest guidance from BCP local authority. Currently, there are two sets of circumstances when a Fixed Penalty Notice Warning may be issued:
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poor attendance over time (at least 10% unauthorised absence); initially a formal warning letter of the possibility of a penalty notice (school concern letter 2) will be sent, giving 15 school days to effect improvement
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unauthorised leave of absence (including holidays) taken during term time (of at least 10 sessions/5 days over a 10 week period - this could be one or more periods of absence
There is no statutory right of appeal over a penalty notice. Please refer to the BCP School Attendance Code of Conduct.
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​Information on expectations within BCP from the School Inclusion team can be found here:
https://www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/Schools-and-learning/At-school/School-attendance.aspx
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BCP Penalty Notices for unauthorised absences from school Information for parents/carers
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