Attendance
At St George’s, we truly believe that every school day counts towards your child’s future. Days off school add up to lost enjoyment, achievement and learning. We appreciate it when families use the 175 non-school days a year for time together, family visits, holidays, days out and routine appointments where possible.
Good attendance is important because:
- Statistics show a direct link between educational achievement and absence levels. Higher absence can lead to lower achievement.
- Regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically.
- Regular attenders find school routines, school work and friendships easier to maintain.
- Regular attenders find learning more satisfying.
- Regular attenders find transition points easier to manage.
Absence:
If your child is absent from school it is very important that you let us know the reason for absence as soon as possible. We encourage parents to inform us of their child’s absence through the absence line by 9.00am on the first day of the absence. If no message is received by this time a member of the office staff will contact you to ascertain why the child has not arrived at school. Regular and punctual attendance is an important part of a child’s educational development and our high attendance figures are a result of strong parental support and rigorous procedures to ensure its monitoring.
Schools Attendance Procedure:
If a pupil’s attendance falls below 93 percent, a Stage 1 letter is sent home reminding parents that their child’s attendance has fallen below the school’s expected standard and the school will continue to monitor this in partnership with parents.
If a pupil’s attendance continues to fall, or falls below 90 percent, a Stage 2 letter is sent home explaining that the pupil’s attendance has not shown any improvement since Stage 1, and is now being monitored in conjunction with the Local Authority School Attendance Office.
The pupil’s attendance is monitored for three weeks and, if attendance does not improve after this time, a Stage Three letter will be sent inviting parents to attend a meeting in school with a member of the Senior Leadership Team. We will also be requesting medical evidence for all future absences. If parents are unwilling to cooperate, or are genuinely unable to attend, a referral may be required to the Local Authority Attendance Officer.
If targets are not met within the next three weeks, a final written warning is issued to the parents. If there is no improvement after an additional three weeks, a consultation will take place with the Local Authority Attendance Officer and a fixed-penalty notice may be issued.
If your child is unwell at school or has an accident we shall inform you as soon as possible, therefore it is important that we have two telephone numbers on which we may contact you or an agreed family member / guardian during the day. Please do ensure you are contactable.
Whilst we discourage appointments during the school day, if your child does have an unavoidable appointment during the school day, a member of the school office team and/or the Class Teacher should be informed by email in advance of the absence. The child will need to be collected from and returned to the school reception area where a note will be made of the time the child left and entered the school. This is necessary to ensure the safety of your child at all times.
Holidays:
Where possible parents are encouraged to take family holidays during the scheduled school holiday periods in order to cause the least amount of disruption to their child’s education and attendance.
However, we do understand that there are exceptional circumstances when this may not be possible and in such circumstances we ask that a Request for a leave of absence form be filled out and submitted to the school office 6 weeks in advance so that your request can be considered.
As we similarly encourage excellent attendance, so too do we consider punctuality as significant to your child’s learning, in addition to developing a necessary life skill.
You can find a copy of the school Attendance Policy here and a copy of the schools Leave of Absence Form here
Lates:
Please see below detail on the actions we follow for lateness:
- 3 lates in a month – a letter will be sent informing you of your child’s lates and requesting an improvement in punctuality.
- If this trend is repeated – The School Attendance Officer will telephone to discuss the cause of the lateness and to see if any support is required.
- If lateness still features – The Assistant Head (Inclusion) will telephone to discuss this further.
