Rawdon St. Peter's C of E Primary School

Attendance

Good attendance at school is important for your child’s education

and establishes a positive working ethos early in life.

What does good attendance bring?

A brilliant education and great attitudes towards learning!

It is important that your child is in school every day so that they don’t miss out on any learning.

You can find our Attendance Policy here. This policy explains our procedures and why we have them in place.

Daily Attendance

It is important that your child is at school and on time each day. If children are absent or late to school they will miss key learning and it may be harder for them to feel settled when they return to school.

The gates to our playground are open to parents from 8am each morning. Most families arrive at school at around 8.40am and use this time to socialise and meet with other families.

Teachers come onto the playground each morning at 8.50am, taking time to greet children and gather any quick messages from parents.

The bell is rung at 8.55am, which is when children line up and are brought inside to begin their daily learning.

Punctuality

Alongside attendance, we also monitor punctuality. Being late to school each day can have a huge impact on a child’s learning and in particular their wellbeing. Being late to school, means lessons have already started and children have to very quickly catch up. This can have a big impact on learning.

We understand every child is different and there may be times being on time to school is difficult. We will always do our best to work with families to ensure children are in school and learning and would encourage any family to come and speak with us about any difficulties you may be experiencing.

Absence through Illness

Should your child be unwell enough to attend school, please contact the school office as early as possible. Should you child be absent for more than 2 days or we have concerns about a child’s attendance or welfare, we may see it appropriate to carry out a visit to your home. This is a supportive visit and meets our safeguarding duty of care.

Medical Appointments

We understand that some medical appointments are essential to the physical and emotional wellbeing of your child. If your child has an ongoing medical need, we will always take this into account when discussing your attendance.

If your child has a medical appointment, we ask that you make every effort to make this out of school hours or during holidays. Where this is not possible, please try to book an appointment for either first thing on a morning or at the end of the day. This allows staff in school to keep the school day and learning as consistent as possible. If you do have an appointment in school time, you will be asked to provide an appointment card, text message or email to confirm this appointment. This is in line with our safeguarding procedures and will allow us to code the absence as an approved medical visit rather than an unauthorised absence.

Holidays in Term Time

Taking your child out of school can have a significant impact not only on their learning but on their emotional development and friendships.

We do not authorise any holidays during term time. If you are considering taking your child on holiday during term time, please arrange to speak to the Headteacher before making your booking so that the attendance arrangements and the impact of lost learning can be explained in full.

If you are considering booking a holiday in term time, please do contact us to discuss this prior to booking. This would give us opportunity to discuss options and the impact that this may have on your child's learning and development.

In August 2024, The National Attendance Framework was launched and states that:

§  Penalty notices issued for offences that take place after 19 August 2024 will be charged at a new rate of £160 per parent per child. This can be paid at £80 if paid within 21 days.

§  Any second penalty notice issued to the same parent/s for the same child within a rolling 3-year period will be issued at the rate of £160 to be paid within 28 days with no option for a reduced rate for early payment. 

§  The threshold at which a penalty notice must be considered is set at 10 sessions (equivalent to 5 days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10-school week period. This may include absences as a result of arriving late after the register closes.  

§  A maximum of 2 penalty notices may be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period. At the 3rd (or subsequent) offence(s) another course of action will need to be considered (such as prosecution). 

§  Only penalty notices issued for absences taking place after 19 August 2024 will count towards the above thresholds.

This is a national policy which is being driven across all schools. The money collected from the fixed penalty notice does not come into the school budget and the fine is not issued by us however we are duty bound to report the absence to the Local Authority.

If you have discussed your absence request with us and still wish to go ahead and request a planned absence, please complete the form below.

Please note that if you take your child out of school during term time, you will be asked to provide us with evidence to confirm where you are going and the date of your return. This is in line with our safeguarding procedures and supports our duty of care.

You can use the form below to make a request for leave during term time. Once the form has been completed, a member of the pastoral team will be in touch to discuss your request.

If you have any questions about your child's attendance or attendance in general, please contact Mrs Drye in the school office.

Exceptional Circumstances Request Form

Safeguarding

We are accountable for your child when they are absent from school. This means, we may ask for evidence of their whereabouts or carry out a home visit.

Please be assured that this supports our safeguarding procedures and our ongoing duty of care.