Attendance

Greasley Beauvale Primary and Nursery School believes that in order to facilitate teaching and learning, good attendance is essential. Pupils cannot achieve their full potential if they do not regularly attend school.

We understand that barriers to attendance are complex, and that some pupils find it harder than others to attend school. Therefore, we will continue to prioritise cultivating a safe and supportive environment at school, as well as strong and trusting relationships with pupils and parents.

We take a whole-school approach to securing good attendance and recognise the impact that our efforts in other areas – such as the curriculum, behaviour standards, bullying, SEND support, pastoral support, and the effective use of resources such as pupil premium – can have on improving pupil attendance.

We are committed to:

• Promoting and modelling high attendance and its benefits.
• Ensuring equality and fairness for all.
• Ensuring this attendance policy is clear and easily understood by staff, pupils and parents and carers.
• Intervening early and working with other agencies.
• Building strong relationships with families to overcome barriers to attendance.
• Working collaboratively with other schools in the area, as well as other agencies.
• Ensuring parents follow the framework set in section 7 of the Education Act 1996, which states that the parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause them to receive efficient full-time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, and to any SEND they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.
• Regularly monitoring and analysing attendance and absence data to identify pupils or cohorts that require more support.
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The school has high expectations for pupils’ attendance and punctuality, and ensures that these expectations are communicated regularly to parents and pupils.

Pupils will be expected to attend school punctually every day they are required to be at school, for the full day.

The school day starts at 8:50am.  All pupils should be in their classroom, ready to begin lessons at this time.  The classroom doors will be open from 8:45am. The registers are taken at 8:55am and submitted to the office. After 8:55am, children should enter the school via the school office and be signed into school by a parent or carer.

Absence Procedures

Parents will be required to inform school as soon as possible on the first day of their child’s absence. An absence can be reported by calling school and leaving a message on the absence line, reporting the absence on the Weduc app or by calling the school office during opening hours. 

Where a pupil is absent, and their parent has not contacted the school by 9:30am, the attendance lead will contact the parent/carer.

Where a pupil is absent for more than three school days in a row, the attendance lead will contact the parent/carer to ascertain when the child is expected to return to school.

The school will not request medical evidence in most circumstances where a pupil is absent due to illness.  However, the school reserves the right to request supporting evidence where there is genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness or where there has been a large number of absences due to illness reported.

The school will inform the LA, on a termly basis, of the details of pupils who fail to attend regularly, or who have missed 10 school days or more without authorisation.

Leave of absence

The Head Teacher is unable to authorise holidays taken during term time apart from those taken in exceptional circumstances.

A leave of absence form should be submitted at least four weeks prior to the proposed first day of leave. These can be completed on the Weduc app.

Any requests for leave during term time will be considered on an individual

If the absence is granted, the Head Teacher will determine the length of time that the pupil can be away from school. The school will not grant leaves of absence for the purposes of family holidays.

If term-time leave is not granted, and the leave is taken, the absence will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. 

If the absence means that the number of unauthorised absences reaches the threshold of 10 sessions (5 days), or more, over a 10-school week period, a request for a penalty notice will be issued to the Local Authority. If it is decided that a penalty notice is to be issued the parent and carer will be notified in writing.

Illness and healthcare appointments

Parents should look to make medical or dental appointments outside of school hours wherever possible. Where this is not possible, parents will be expected to obtain approval for their child’s absence to attend such appointments as far in advance as is practicable and should ensure their child misses only the amount of time necessary to attend the appointment and not a full day or half-day absence.

If a child has an appointment during the school day and either arrives late or is collected early, proof of the appointment will be required.  If this is not provided, the absence may be recorded as unauthorised

SEND and health related absences

We recognise that pupils with SEND and/or health conditions, including mental health issues, may face greater barriers to attendance than their others and will support pupils who find attending school difficult. If school is concerned, the attendance lead, along with another adult who knows the child well (e.g. Class Teacher, SENDCO) will arrange to meet with the parent/carer and child to begin the ATTEND framework process.

In line with the SEND Policy and Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions Policy, the school will ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to reduce barriers to attendance in line with any Education Health Care Plans (EHCP) or Provision Maps that have been implemented.

Where the school has concerns that a pupil’s non-attendance may be related to mental health issues, parents and carers will be contacted to discuss the issue. All pupils will be supported with their mental health in accordance with the school’s Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) Policy.

Monitoring Attendance

The school uses an ‘Escalated Days Approach’ to monitor attendance data regularly to ensure that intervention is delivered quickly to address signs of unusual patterns or high level of absence and to reduce the risk of a child becoming classed as persistently absent.

If a child has been absent for at least 5 days, for any reason, a letter will be sent to notify parents and carers that the first step of the attendance management process has been triggered. Should the absence be unauthorised, for reasons such as a family holiday, parents and carers will be notified that that a penalty notice will be requested.

If you have any questions regarding attendance or anything relating to the policy, please contact Mrs Tracy Salisbury on 01773 712128 or by email on tsalisbury@greasley.notts.sch.uk