Attendance
Attending school is so important for your child. It is essential for pupils to get the most out of their school experience, including their attainment, wellbeing, and wider life chances. The pupils with the highest attainment at the end of key stage 2 have higher rates of attendance over the key stage compared to those with the lowest attainment. The Governors and our Senior Leadership Team are aspiring to 97% across all year groups. We ask for your support to make sure your child attends school every day, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.
Ideally all medical appointments should be booked outside of school time. However, we recognise this is not always possible. If your child is attending a medical appointment, for this to be recorded as such and not as unauthorised, we request that proof of appointment is given to the school office. You can bring a physical copy of the letter to the school office or email in a copy of the letter, email confirmation or screenshot of a text.
| How many days off will make your child a persistent absence (PA) pupil | |
| Half Term 1 | 3½ days off school from September until October half term holiday will make your child PA. |
| Half Term 1-2 | 7 days off school from September until the Christmas holiday will make your child PA. |
| Half Term 1-3 | 10 days of absence from September until February half term will make your child PA. |
| Half Term 1-4 | 12½ days of absence from September until the Easter holidays will make your child PA. |
| Half Term 1-5 | 15½ days of absence from September until May half term will make your child PA. |
| Half Term 1-6 | 19 days of absence for the full academic year will make your child PA. |
Absence Definitions
Authorised Absence:
Authorised absence means that the school has either given approval in advance for a pupil of compulsory school age to be away, or has accepted an explanation offered as justification for absence. Examples: Leave of absence authorised for exceptional circumstances, medical appointments.
Unauthorised Absence:
Unauthorised absence is where the school is not satisfied with the reasons given for the absence. Examples: Leave of absence request declined by Head for a holiday, no reason provided for absence. Persistent Absence
A pupil with attendance below 90% is classed as persistently absent, even if the absence has been authorised. Pupils taking unauthorised leave of absence early in the academic year could be categorised as persistently absent despite having perfect attendance from their return date onwards. We work closely with WCC – Warwickshire Attendance Service (W.A.S) to resolve issues leading to absence and support those families whose attendance drops below the expected level.
If a pupil is a persistent absentee:
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They have been absent from school for 10% or more of school time
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In one school year they will have missed 19 whole days or more of school
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In five school years they will have missed 95 days or more of school, which is at least half of a school year in total.
Should I send my child in to school?
We do find that a significant amount of learning is lost through absence. If students are struggling and feeling under the weather such as with a cold or headache, please give them some appropriate medication and send them into school, rather than allowing them to stay at home, if their condition worsens, we will contact you.
Medication can be brought in and stored in the the office for students to take to help ease any discomforts or illnesses. If you feel this is necessary please contact the office staff for further information. For those students that get injured and end up with broken bones or sprains we also expect them to attend school. Students can be accommodated within and supported within school.
Request for Leave of Absence
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Holidays are not allowed during term time.
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Headteachers are not able to grant any leave of absence during term time unless they consider there are exceptional circumstances attached to the application.
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If the Headteacher does consider the circumstances to be exceptional they will determine how many days absence is appropriate.
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Leave of absence must be applied for in advance and cannot be granted afterwards.
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A leave of absence form must be completed and submitted to the Headteacher.
Please read this BRILLIANT article about school attendance
https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/01/improving-school-attendance/
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