Park Middle School

14th March 2006

 

 

ATTENDANCE POLICY   

 

Principles

 

Promoting positive behaviour and excellent attendance is the responsibility of the whole school community.

 

Park Middle School will promote positive behaviour and good attendance through its use of curriculum and learning materials. Good attendance and behaviour by pupils will be recognised through the schools rewards system described in the Behaviour and Attendance Policy. All children should be at school, on time, every day the school is open, unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. 

 

All children are sometimes reluctant to attend school. Any problems that arise with attendance are best resolved between the school, the parents and the child. If a child is reluctant to attend, it is never better to cover up their absence or to give in to pressure to excuse them from attending. This gives the impression that attendance does not matter and may make things worse. Permitting absence from school without a good reason is an offence by the parent.

 

Our attendance and behaviour policy includes procedural referral agreements that are designed to promote and safeguard the welfare of pupils. We, in common with all schools, have a duty in law to refer any absence of 10 days or more where the school has been unable to make contact with the parent/carer/child or have general concerns about the absence to the Education Welfare Service.

 

At Park Middle School we are required to take an attendance register twice a day, and this shows whether the pupil is present, engaged in an approved educational activity off-site, or absent. If a pupil of compulsory school age is absent every half-day absence from school has to be classified by the school, as either AUTHORISED or UNAUTHORISED. Only school can authorise the absence, not parents. This is why information about the cause of each absence is always required, preferably in writing.

 

Authorised absences are mornings or afternoons away from school for a good reason like illness or other unavoidable cause.

 

Unauthorised absences are those which the school does not consider reasonable and for which no “leave” has been given. This includes:

 

•  parents keeping children off school unnecessarily

•  truancy before or during the school day

•  absences which have never been properly explained

•  children who arrive at school too late to get a mark

 

Parents whose children are experiencing difficulties should contact school at an early stage and work together with the staff in resolving any problems.  This is nearly always successful. If difficulties cannot be sorted out in this way, the school or the parent may refer the child to the Education Welfare Officer from the County Council.  He/she will also try to resolve the situation with voluntary support, if other ways of trying to improve the child’s attendance have failed, these Officers can issue Penalty Notices or use court proceedings to prosecute parents or to seek an Education Supervision Order on the child.  The maximum penalty on conviction is a fine of £2500 and/or 3 months imprisonment.

 

Alternatively, parents or children may wish to contact the EWO themselves to ask for help or information. They are independent of the school and will give impartial advice.  Their telephone number is available from the school office or by contacting the Local Education Authority.

 

Procedures

The school applies the following procedures in deciding how to deal with individual absences:

 

Parents/carers should inform the school on the first morning of any absence that children will not be in school giving reasons.  This first contact should be followed up by a note explaining the nature of the problem causing the absence and the duration of non-attendance.  This will ensure that absences are authorised.

 

If school has received no notification of absence the school office will make contact by phone on the morning of the first day of absence and will continue to attempt contact until a response is obtained.  It is therefore most important that school always has current contact information updated immediately if there are any changes 

 

Parents/carers should not absent children from school for holidays.  There are certain special circumstances which may result in the approval of holiday leave, but these should only applied following a rigorous test of the Local Authority criteria.

 

Children who arrive late for either the morning or the afternoon sessions must enter school by the front entrance and report immediately to the school office.  The office will then decide how to mark the register depending on how late the pupil is.  If there are extenuating circumstances parents should let the school know immediately as lateness is liable to response on the school’s behaviour code.

 

If pupils are absent and fail to bring in letters explaining their absence then the EWO will write to their parents or carers asking for an explanation.  Should this not result in a response then a home visit may be necessary.

 

The school will work closely with parents, carers and children in order to rectify problems to do with attendance and/or lateness.  If no improvement results then the school may go down the rout of drawing up contracts specifying behaviour likely to resolve the situation.

 

Attendance at or below 85% becomes liable for the issue of a fixed penalty notice.  The school will only embark on this course following exhaustive discussion with parents, carers, children and the EWO as well as the exercise of the range of strategies to resolve the attendance problem.

 

It is the responsibility of Form Tutors under the management of Year Leaders to monitor attendance closely providing Year Leaders with information about pupils causing concern and maintaining good records of attendance including notes for all pupils.  Year Leaders liaise weekly with the Educational Welfare Officer referring problems of attendance and punctuality.

 

Form Tutors and Year Leaders should do all in their power to promote good attendance and punctuality.

 

Year Leaders are responsible for supplying the Assistant Headteacher  with information about patterns of attendance and about individual cases that are problematic.

 

When an individual pupil’s attendance level falls below 85% in any term without good reason, a referral to the EWS will be made by the school. Following investigation any unresolved issues could result in the parent receiving a Penalty Notice or ultimately a prosecution under the Education Act 1996 s.444.

 

It is not appropriate for the school to authorise absences for shopping, looking after other children, haircuts etc.  Leave may be granted in an emergency (e.g. bereavement) or for medical appointments which must be in school time.

 

Information about individual school targets, projects and special initiatives

 

The school has adopted the following attendance targets and special projects:

 

Park Middle School aims to return an average annual attendance percentage of 95%.  In order to achieve this there are form group and individual competitions for high level attendance.  Good attendance is celebrated weekly in the Special Mentions assembly.  Individual good attendance is rewarded at Awards evening.

 

Those people responsible for attendance matters in this school are:

 

Mrs Moss, Administrator, is responsible for contacting parents/carers at the earliest possible time on the first morning of any absence and then for endeavouring to make contact should this prove problematic.  She is also responsible for maintaining an up-to-date record of contact numbers.  Mrs Moss will also write letters to discover information about non-attendance unobtainable by phone.

 

Mrs Moss will keep Form Tutors and Year Leaders informed of the ongoing situation for all absences as well as being a point of contact for the EWO.

 

 

Summary

The school has a legal duty to publish its absence figures to parents and to promote attendance. Equally, parents have a duty to make sure that their children attend. School staff are committed to working with parents as the best way to ensure as high a level of attendance as possible.