How does the school encourage good attendance and punctuality?
At Oakfield Primary School we recognise that positive behaviour and good attendance are essential in order to raise standards of pupil attainment and to give every child / young person the best educational experience possible. The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude, and any special educational need they may have. It is the legal responsibility of every parent / carer to make sure their child receives that education. Parents / carers have duty to make sure that their children attend school, on time, every day. The only exceptional circumstances are that they are too ill to attend or have been given permission for an absence in advance from the school.
Our Attendance and Punctuality Policy has been written in line with guidance from the DfE and underpins our school ethos to:
To help us all to focus on this we will:
Unauthorised absence includes, however is not exhaustive:
Persistent absenteeism (PA)
A child is defined by the Government as a ‘persistent absentee’ when they miss 10% or more schooling across the school year for any reason, this can be authorised or unauthorised absence. Absence at this level will cause considerable damage to any child’s education and we need the full support and co-operation of parents / carers to resolve this. If your child is persistently absent we will advise you that your child has been placed on our Persistent Absence register and their attendance will be monitored on a weekly basis until attendance improves.
If a child is absent from school the parent / carer must follow these procedures:
If your child is absence and we not received a reason, we will:
There is no legal entitlement for leave during the school term. A pupil who takes 10 days absence will only attain 94.7% which is below the 96% target we set for all Oakfield pupils. 10 days absence also means the pupil will miss 62 hours 30 mins of education in Key Stage 1 and 64 hours 10 minutes in Key Stage 2.
As from 1st September 2013, the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2013 amended Regulation 7 prohibits Headteachers from granting any leave of absences to pupils, except where advance application has been made by the parent / carer and the Headteacher agrees that the absence will be an exceptional circumstance.
‘The current law does not give any entitlement to parents / carers to take their child on holiday during term time. Any application for leave must be in exceptional circumstances and the Headteacher must be satisfied that the circumstances warrant the granting of leave. Parents / carers can be fined for taking their child on holiday during term time without consent from the school’.
When deciding upon any absence requests, the Headteacher will consider:
· The reason for the request and the exceptional circumstances
· The last 12 weeks prior attendance.
· The dates your child will be absent particularly if they fall within the period of statutory assessments. NB. During the month of May there are SATs tests for Year 2 and 6 and this is also a key assessment period
throughout the school when teachers finalise their teacher assessments.
NB. If the absence is not authorised and the absence is taken anyway, the case will be referred to the Local Authority who may issue a Penalty Notice for £120 (or £60 if paid within 21 days) to each parent / carer for each child taken out of school.
We work in partnership with parents / carers to resolve issues, which affect attendance and punctuality, as quickly as possible.