School Attendance:

At Loughborough CofE Primary School we place an emphasis on the importance of regular and punctual school attendance. We believe through good attendance at school children will achieve higher attainment, have better opportunities and establish good habits that will support them throughout their lives. 

The Attendance Lead for Rise Multi Academy Trust is Mrs K Harvey.

We understand that there may be unavoidable circumstances on occasions when your child is absent from school and we would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the school absence procedures. 

Illness:

Occasionally, your child may wake up on a school day and say that they feel unwell. Parents will assess and decide if they think their child is well enough to attend school or needs to be kept at home. If your child has no temperature but has a cough, cold, headache or earache, then (as with adults) medical advice is to give them paracetamol e.g. Calpol and send them to school. We will always contact you if your child’s condition worsens or if we believe it is contagious such as chicken pox, vomiting, etc. If you’re not sure if your child’s illness is classed as infectious or whether they need to be kept off school and for how long, then contact the school office who will offer advice and information. 

It is school’s decision whether to accept a reason for a child’s absence and whether to authorise that absence. In the majority of cases a parents’ note explaining that their child was ill can be accepted without question. Further evidence of a child’s illness may be requested if their attendance is an ongoing concern. 

 

Our Attendance Process

 

Medical and Dental Appointments: 

• Where possible such appointments should be booked outside of school hours. 

• When a pupil has a medical or dental appointment this should be confirmed with an appointment card or letter. 

• Pupils are expected to attend school prior to the appointment and return to school after the appointment. Any absence outside of the appointment/travel time will be unauthorised.

• Authorisation will not be given for pupils to attend family member’s medical appointments.

Persistent absence and unauthorised absence: 

We take a proactive approach to improving the attendance of individual children whose attendance falls below 96%. Children who have less than 90% attendance are classed by the Department for Education as persistently absent. We will communicate concerns about poor attendance to parents and use an escalating approach including letters, and meetings in school to support parents in improving attendance. Where attendance is a concern, we will work with parents to agree actions plans to improve attendance. 

Parents can support regular school attendance by: 

• Making sure their child leaves for school early enough to arrive at school on time. 

• Supporting and encouraging their child by attending parent's evenings and other school events. 

• Contacting the school to discuss any concerns regarding their child’s attendance. 

• Working in partnership with the school to resolve any issues that are impacting on their child’s attendance. 

• Making any medical appointments outside of school hours whenever possible. 

• Not taking children out of school for holidays in term time or for other unnecessary reasons. . 

Holidays:

Parents should be aware that Rise Multi Academy Trust follows the UK Government's directive on holiday absence in term time because of the disruption caused to pupils' learning. 

Holidays should not be taken in term time and will be refused.  Please do not ask for family holidays to be authorised.

Click on the link below for the latest Government guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence

Absence and Attainment :

Did you know... ?

- There are 190 days in a school year, leaving 175 non-school days for family holidays and routine appointments.  

- Children have the best chance of success if their school attendance is between 95 – 100%. 

- According to the Department of Education, a ‘persistently absent child’ is one who misses school for at least 10% of the time.

- 90% of attendance means that your child misses one day every two weeks and this will add up to nearly four weeks over the year.

- At 90% attendance throughout primary and secondary school your child will be missing one whole year of school!

Attendance Rewards:

We encourage pupils to develop good habits - preparing them for life and improving life chances. Good attendance is rewarded and actively encouraged:

- Weekly celebration of class attendance with the information added to our school newsletter.

- End of term celebrations for the class with the best attendance.

How can I keep track of attendance?

- You can track your child's individual attendance on Arbor.

- Class attendance is shared weekly on the school newsletter.

- A separate attendance newsletter is shared each half term which contains useful information and class percentages.

- At parents evenings your child's class teacher will talk to you about attendance.

- If you would like an attendance certificate printing out, please speak to the school office.

Further information can be found here: Working Together to Improve School Attendance