Early Years Attendance Leaflet
Letter from Chair of Governors
We encourage all children to have excellent attendance at Monksdown Primary School
Monksdown Primary School is determined to do everything they can to ensure your child has the very best start in life. An essential part of this is that every child is punctual and attends school. As a parent or carer, you have an important part to play. It is your legal responsibility to ensure your child receives a suitable full time education and attends school on time each day.
Persistent absence and lateness will affect a child’s achievement and progress in school. Comprehensive research shows that there is a direct link between a child’s level of school attendance and their level of school attainment.
It is important to set the expectation of good attendance right from the beginning when your child starts our school so they grow up with ‘good habits’.
If your child is absent from school, you must inform the school. The most convenient way to do this is via our Study Bugs App
Or alternatively by telephone, e-mail or by letter, giving a reason for the absence. Absences once reported are either authorised or unauthorised by the school.
Pupils should only be absent from school if:
- They are too ill to attend
- They have a medical appointment that can’t be arranged out of school hours
- There are exceptional circumstances
- Advanced permission has been granted from school
Punctuality
We open the classroom doors at 8.50 am for a soft start to the day. Registration is at 8.55 am and lessons begin then. It is essential that children arrive in school on time. As well as missing valuable learning time, it can be very unsettling for a child who arrives late. Persistent lateness is detrimental to a child’s education and we monitor this very closely. Equally, please don’t arrive at school too early. The school cannot take legal responsibility for children before 8.45am,
If your child does arrive late for school (after 9am) they should be brought to the main school office and be registered via the electronic system by an adult.
Regular school attendance brings enormous benefits to individual pupils, their families, schools and the community as a whole. Without regular attendance, levels of attainment suffer and opportunities are missed to obtain maximum benefit from education.
If you need to make a medical or dentist appointment:
Medical appointments should where possible be made outside school hours. When this is unavoidable, your child should be in school for the remainder of the school day, whether before or/and after the appointment.
Holidays & Leave of Absence
There is no legal entitlement to holidays or leave of absence during term time.
A leave of absence can now only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Holidays are not deemed to be exceptional circumstances and therefore will not be authorised. If a parent wishes to request a Leave of Absence, then a formal request must be made in writing stating the dates of the absence and giving details of the exceptional circumstances which they feel warrant the request.
What happens if we are worried about your child’s school attendance?
Good attendance is 95% or more, if attendance is below 90% the child is classified as ‘persistently absent’ from school and this will have a negative impact on the child’s learning.
If we have concerns about your child’s attendance, we will contact you so that we can offer support and work together to make sure your child’s attendance is good. We employ an Education Welfare Officer (EWO) who will also work with families if there is concern about school attendance.
What you can do to help your child?
- Make sure your child comes to school regularly and punctually.
- Please support Monksdown in our efforts to encourage punctuality, good attendance and behaviour.
- Take an interest in your child’s school work.
- If your child if off school, it is very important you contact school on the first morning of absence to tell us why. Staff will be concerned if they do not hear from you
- If your child starts missing school, work with the school without delay to put things right. Communication is very important
Please read information below for full details