ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY matter!

Our target is to reach 96% or above.

Click on the link below to see what our current attendance total is and which class is the

Attendance Award Winner this week:

https://www.bostonstnicholas.co.uk/attendance-and-awards/

Every day matters and when a child is absent, key aspects of learning are missed.

DID YOU KNOW...?

IF YOUR CHILD HAS 90% ATTENDANCE EVERY YEAR, THEY WILL MISS 247 DAYS OF LEARNING OVER THEIR WHOLE SCHOOL LIFE. 

THAT’S A LOSS OF OVER ONE AND A HALF ACADEMIC YEARS OF THEIR PRECIOUS EDUCATION! 

90% ATTENDANCE IS A PROBLEM.

PLEASE TAKE ATTENDANCE SERIOUSLY.

Top tips for good attendance:

• Establish a good morning routine
• Book all appointments e.g dentist, optician, in school holidays
• Attend parents evenings to discuss your child’s progress
• Don’t keep your child off school with minor ailments
• Book your holiday in school holidays
• Be honest about your situation and talk to us!

If your child is ill please let the office know as soon as possible.

The school office is open between 8:30am and 4:00pm when there is always a helpful member of the team available to answer your queries.  If you are unsure as to whether or not your child should be off school (for example due to vomiting), do not hesitate to contact the office for advice.

Where possible, please avoid booking medical appointments during the school day.  However if this is unavoidable, please contact the school office to inform them that your child will be out of school or late to arrive. A copy of your letter will be requested and the office staff will record this information on our attendance system.

Did you know ... minutes matter!

If your child is 5 minutes late for school each day, they will miss 3 days of schooling over the course of a year.

Let's all work together to improve attendance and punctuality at Boston St Nicholas CE Primary Academy! 

Attendance at St Nicholas CE Primary Academy

Our school has high expectations in relation to children's attendance. This is because for children to receive a broad and balanced education and if they are to achieve their full potential, they must be at school regularly and on time.

Government research shows that there is a strong link between regular school attendance and academic achievement. The Government advise that an attendance rate of less than 95%, in one academic year, will have detrimental effect on a child's education. One week off school will affect your child's attendance by 2.64%.

It is our expectation that children will have an attendance rate in excess of 95%. Each child's attendance is reviewed on a regular basis. Mrs Booth or Mrs Curtis, our Learning Mentor, are available to meet with parents to discuss any problems that could be preventing your child attending school, simply contact them via the Main Office on 01205 363210 or catch them on gate duty at either end of the school day.

If your child's attendance is less than 95%, you will receive an attendance letter including the summary of your child's attendance.

We do understand that children occasionally get poorly, but we ask that you do your best to encourage them into school and work with us if there is an issue or a longer term illness. Children who miss school regularly can very quickly fall behind and begin to find keeping up with their learning, difficult.

If you have any worries at all about attendance please do come and speak to us, or click on the link below for advise from the NHS 'is my child too ill for school?':

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/ 

Have the conversation…

When you know what the problem is, you can work with us to plan how best to help.

Here are some things that might impact on attendance … This list is by no means exhaustive, it’s just to help get you started:

Illness            Anxiety about school work        Bullying               Issues at home           Depression

Sleep issues: fear of missing out / homework overload / insomnia       

Friendship issues                                   No clean uniform                          Changes in circumstances           Responsibilities at home

Our attendance practice

If your child’s absence drops below 95% you will receive a letter informing you that their attendance will be monitored for a specified period of time, and you may be asked to provide medical proof of your child’s illnesses. 

If your child’s attendance drops below 90%, you will be asked to attend a formal attendance meeting to discuss any issues and to look at ways we can support you in improving their attendance. We may ask you to complete an attendance contract. 

At 90% or below, all illness absences must be supported with evidence such as a signed GP’s appointment card or prescription, or a hospital letter. 

Where absences are not supported by such evidence, your child’s absence will be recorded as “unauthorised”.  This may result in legal action.

Safeguarding

We ask that parents/ carers make contact with us daily before 8:30am, so we are aware of the whereabouts of ALL of our chuldren.

In the event that we haven't heard from the parent/ carer, Mrs Bartram/ Mrs Waters/ Mrs Curtis will always try and make contact with you.

Where a child has an unauthorised absence from school for 2 days in a row our Attendance Team will visit the family home to establish the reason for not attending school and to check that the child is safe. 

General Absence

Please contact the school on 01205 363210 and speak with the office staff before 8:30 am stating the exact reason for absence e.g. cold/cough, sickness etc.

If in the event you have to leave a message please be specific about the reason for your child's absence. If the reason given is vague, the office team will be asked to call you to clarify the exact circumstances of your child's absence.

Every half term we undertake an attendance review. If your child's attendance has recently dropped below 95%, you will receive a letter from Mrs Bartram, informing you that we will be monitoring their attendance for a specified amount of time.

Our school is very aware that some children have medical or personal circumstances which negatively impact on attendance on a long-term basis, and we understand that many of our children have had chicken pox or scarlet fever during this academic year, which will also have lowered their attendance percentage.

School is required to provide the Local Authority with evidence to show how we are supporting families where a child's attendance is below 95%. At this early stage it is not possible to break down the attendance of every child, which is why letters will be sent to all families in this category regardless of the reason.

If you have received a monitoring letter previously and your child's attendance has not sufficiently improved or has dropped further, you will be invited to attend a meeting to discuss your child's attendance and to see if the school is able to provide support in helping to build up their attendance.

If you have been invited to an attendance meeting previously and your child's attendance has not improved or dropped further, you will be required to attend a second attendance meeting.  If you are not able to attend on the date offered, you can contact Mrs Bartram to arrange a time convenient to you. However, if you miss the meeting, it will take place in your absence and you will be provided with a copy of the outcome of the meeting. 

We really hope this will answer any questions you may have and help you to understand why these letters are being sent out.

If you have any worries about your child's attendance, you do not need to wait for a letter! Simply contact Mrs Booth, Mrs Curtis or Mrs Bartram to discuss the situation.

Lateness & Punctuality 

So what does Attendance and Punctuality Really Mean?  Please look at the percentages and punctuality times below to see how many days of education children miss if they are consistently late or miss days of school.

Did you know.....????

5 Minutes late per day is 3.4 days of learning lost over a year.

10 Minutes late per day is 6.9 days of learning lost over a year.

15 Minutes late per day is 10.3 days of learning lost over a year.

20 Minutes late per day is 13.8 days of learning lost over a year.

30 Minutes later per day is 20.7 days of learning lost over a year.

Lateness

This is a serious concern because children who arrive at school late miss the vital teaching that begins the lesson and they will often struggle to grasp what is being taught. When a child arrives late for school they can find this very unsettling as it is not a good way to start their day. Where lateness is a recurring problem the child’s education will suffer. It is also disruptive for the other children in their class.

Please note that:

Children are welcome onto the school grounds from 8:30am where classroom doors are open and learning will begin.

Registration takes place at 8:45am.

Children are marked late if they arrive after 8.50am. In this instance, they must go to the main entrance at the front of the school as the classroom doors will not be open.

Please make every effort to ensure that your child arrives in good time for the start of school to enable us to provide them with the best education possible.

Please contact Mrs Booth or Mrs Curtis via the school office to arrange an appointment to come in and chat about the support we can offer:

Illness

The school accepts that from time to time children become ill and are unable to attend school. In these situations, we ask parents to call the school office on a daily basis with an update on your child’s condition and, if possible, give an indication as to when you think your child will return to school.

For minor illnesses such as coughs and colds, we encourage children to be brought to school.

Medical appointments

The school expects, where possible, that medical appointments should be scheduled for after school hours or to take place during school holidays. Medical appointments will only be authorised if an appointment card or letter is seen by the school office.

In the case of an emergency appointment, an appointment card should be obtained during the appointment and given to the school upon the child’s return.

Holidays

From the 1st September 2013 changes were made to the law which relates to parents/carers taking their children on holiday during term time. The change in legislation indicates that Head Teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless they consider there to be exceptional circumstances. The amendment in the law removed all references to family holidays.

The Trust will not grant parents/carers time off to take their children on holiday.

If you consider there are exceptional circumstances to support taking your child out of school a 'Request for Leave' form should be completed and handed in at the school office. This must be supported by documentary evidence for our Attendance Officer to consider.

Absences during SAT’s and examination periods will not be authorised and all unauthorised absences will be reported to the Attendance and Welfare Officer.

If the school are concerned about your child’s attendance rate you will be notified and the appropriate actions taken to improve this. Ultimately the school reserves the right to contact Lincolnshire County Council who hold the powers to issues penalty notices (fines) and/or prosecute parents for failing to ensure their child’s regular attendance at school.

The Requests for Leave must be completed and returned to the school office prior to the period of absence; please give the school as much notice as possible of your request. The application will be considered carefully and we will notify you of the school’s decision within 10 working days. We strongly advise that no leave of absence is booked prior to receiving a decision from the school.

Introduction of Fixed Penalty Formal Warning from September 2018

From September 2018 we have decided to take the decision to request that the Local Authority issue a Fixed Penalty Notice where unauthorised absence exceeds 15% in a six week period.

If you wish to seek approval for any request of absence for your child(ren) from School, then you must apply in writing to the Head Teacher, at least four weeks in advance of the requested period. You should only remove your child(ren) if the absence has been authorised, and notified to you in writing by the School. 

Any exceptional circumstances must be clearly set out in the written request to the Head Teacher who will consider each case upon its merits.

If you then choose to take your child out of school during term time and it is not deemed to be exceptional circumstances and/or has not been approved by the School, then this will be coded as an unauthorised absence and a Fixed Penalty Notice will be issued for the period of absence. 

The law states that, where there are unacceptable levels of attendance, schools may request that the Local Authority issue a Fixed Penalty Notice following the legal framework:

• Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 places upon parents a duty to ensure that their child receives efficient full-time education either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.
• Where a child is a registered pupil at a school and the parent fails to ensure that child’s regular attendance at school the parent is liable to be prosecuted for a criminal offence under section 444 of the Education Act.
• In some cases, where this duty is not being fulfilled Section 444B of the same Act empowers the Local Authority to issue a Fixed Penalty of £60 per parent, per child, which will increase if the fine isn’t paid within the first 21 days to £120
• Failure to pay a Fixed Penalty may result in further legal action being taken against you.

ALL fines are retained by the Local Authority and the school does not receive any of this. We will continue to work with families to support as much as we can with attendance.

Should you wish to discuss this matter further, please contact the school office on 01205 363210 to make an appointment with either Mrs Booth or Mrs Curtis.