Attendance & Punctuality

ATTENDANCE & PUNCTUALITY

Good afternoon, everyone.

Our school attendance is far lower than it should be. School is held accountable for this and we have a duty to do everything we can to improve this. We all understand that children's education has been severely disrupted due to the impact of Covid-19, and therefore, now more than ever, children's regular attendance in school is vital to enable them to reach their full potential.

Please do everything you can to ensure that your child is in school every day. When a child is not in school, they miss out on both their education as well as important social and emotional development. This is why we need to work together to maintain good attendance and improve poor attendance.

By the end of next week, you will receive a letter informing you of your child's current attendance.

96% or above = Good Attendance

93% - 90% = At Risk of Persistent Absence

90% or below = Persistent Absence

Too many children in school have an attendance of below 96% and this needs to improve.

The attendance team will be in regular contact with parents/carers of children with falling attendance to see how we cant help and support. If school feels that attendance remains a concern, we have the authority to involve the Education Welfare Service which has the authority to issue fixed penalty notices for poor school attendance.

ILLNESS
You know your child best. If they are too unwell to attend, please do not make them come in. However, please be advised that feeling 'generally unwell' or 'under the weather' is not a reason to keep them at home. Please bring your child to school - we will monitor them closely and if they become more unwell during the day we will contact you.

Please see the attached document which outlines which infectious diseases require time off school. This is a document which is published by the Public Health Agency. We use this guidance when advising parents/carers how much time off a child requires depending on their medical need.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS ABSENT
If a child is absent from school, due to unplanned absence, parents should contact the school on the first day of absence, before 8:30am if possible, on our attendance phone line (0115 9150466 - Option 1) and maintain contact with the school throughout the absence following the procedure below:

- Each morning, phone the school’s attendance number, 0115 9150466 and press option 1 to speak to one of our attendance team. This phone is staffed from 8:30am - 11:00am. If you are calling outside these times, or no-one is available, please leave a voicemail message.

For further information, please read our Attendance & Punctuality Policy which is available on the school website.

https://www.southwarkprimary.net/safeguarding/attendance/

This is the document we follow in school regarding illness and infection control:

https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/sites/default/files/Guidance_on_infection_control_in%20schools_poster.pdf

Thank you so much for your support with this.

Mr Skirton