The John Smith Primary School

______ATTENDANCE POLICY

1. Statement of Intent

(i) The school aims to work together with parents/carers to ensure that all children registered at the school attend both regularly and punctually.

2. Parents' Responsibilities

(i) Parents/carers have a legal duty to ensure that children of compulsory school age attend on a regular and full-time basis.

(ii) Parents/carers should ensure that if their child is going to be absent from school for any unavoidable reason such as sickness they should contact the school as soon as possible, preferably by telephone before 9.30 am on the first morning of absence although this may also be by letter/email and in person.

(iii) Parents/carers should try and arrange routine medical appointments outside school hours. If this is unavoidable parents/carers should inform the school prior to the appointment and in writing or by email. Children should come to school/return to school before/after their appointment so as to miss as little learning as possible.

(iii) Parents/carers cannot authorise their child's absence - only the school can do this on the basis of the explanation provided by the parents/carers. (Should parents/carers fail to provide a satisfactory reason for their child's absence the school will record such absence as unauthorised.)

(iv) Parents/carers should ensure that their child arrives at school in time to come into school for the start of registration at 9.00am. If a child arrives after 9.00 am they must be signed in at the school office by an adult.

(v) No holiday absences during term time can be authorised and leave will only be granted in extremely exceptional circumstances. 3. School Responsibilities

(i) The school will record and monitor attendance in accordance both with the statutory requirements and with the principle that regular, uninterrupted attendance is vital to a child's educational progress.

(ii) Registers will be called twice daily at 9.00 am and 1.00 pm. Any child arriving after the closing of the register (9.15am & 1.05pm) will be recorded as 'unauthorised late' for that session. The Educational Welfare Officer will consider issuing a fixed penalty notice for any child who is persistently absent.

(iii) Teachers will complete registers in accordance with the guidance contained in the staff handbook. Absence data will be monitored regularly to ensure that any potential attendance difficulties are identified at an early stage.

(iv) Should a class teacher have particular concerns about an individual child's attendance or punctuality they should speak to the head teacher.

(v) Should a child be absent the class teacher will enter the appropriate code in the register. Should no explanation be received from the child's parent/carers the office staff will endeavour to make contact with the parent/carer by telephone or text and record the response in the register. (This is to ensure the child’s safety between leaving home and registration) Should this prove impossible the office staff will refer the matter to the head teacher.

(vi) All absence notes from parents/carers should be initialed by the class teacher and sent to the office with the register. Only notes concerning absences about which there are concerns/queries should be brought to the attention of the head teacher (who may then choose to speak to the parents/carers concerned).

(vii) The head teacher will collect attendance data on a monthly basis and will use this data during meetings with the school's Education Welfare Officer. These meetings will agree on attendance thresholds and targets and will identify respective tasks and follow-up actions for both the school and the EWO.

(viii) The school will employ a number of strategies to promote regular, punctual attendance:

- the head teacher and class teachers will communicate regularly with parents/carers on attendance matters; - the staff will work closely with parents/carers to encourage good attendance - when there are concerns parents/carers will receive a letter which includes details about children’s attendance figures and will outline steps necessary to improve the situation - Parents/carers will be reminded of the school’s attendance policy in newsletters and on the website. - local authority parents leaflets are available for all parents/ carers

4. This attendance policy will be reviewed in Autumn 2013 Agreed, approved and accepted by the FGB on 3rd December 2012.