At Clifton Primary School, we are keen to make sure your children are in school every day and on time.

Our target for attendance is AT LEAST 96% and it is important to be in school on time. If you have any difficulties with attendance and punctuality, please contact Mrs Shepherd and we will try to support you in any way that we can.

Each week we celebrate the class with the highest attendance in assembly.

 

If your child is not in school, they are missing valuable learning. Attendance will be shared with you at each parents/carers evening and on annual school reports. Attendance and punctuality causing concern will be communicated to you via letters, in line with our policy.

Please use this table to help you approximately work out your child’s attendance for the term or come to the school office where we can discuss your child’s attendance with you. Thank you.

 

Days Off	Days in School	Attendance
0 day	72 days	100%
1/2 day	71.5 days	99.2%
1 day	71 days	98.5%
1 1/2 days	70.5 days	97.8%
2 days	70 days	97%
2 1\2 days	69.5 days	96.3%

 

We are also focusing on children’s punctuality. Children need to be in school at the beginning of the school day to ensure that they are ready for learning. This is the most important element of their school routine to make sure they do not miss the beginning of their lessons and feel confident in the classroom. Children arriving after 8:50 am MUST come into school via the main reception. Children are marked in the registers as late if they arrive after 8:50 am.

If a child is late they must sign in using the Inventry system at the office.

Absence

Government legislation requires parents to ensure that their children attend school regularly and punctually and has laid down guidance on authorised and unauthorised absences. Authorised absence includes illness, medical and dental appointments and religious observances.

Lateness

School starts promptly at 8.50 a.m. If a child arrives at school after this time, they should go to the school office to sign in. This will then be coded in the register as “L” to indicate that the child was late. If a child arrives at school more than 30 minutes after the start of the school day, this will be considered an unauthorised absence.

Illness and Medicines

If your child is absent from school, or unavoidably late, please telephone the school office by 8:20 am, giving the reason.  If the child is absent for more than 1 day, please telephone each day to give the reason for the absence.  If no reason is given for subsequent days, then our school office will ring to request this information.  If absence continues without explanation further contact will be made to ensure safeguarding, this may be a home visit – where we will place a letter through letter boxes asking an adult to call as soon as possible – or a phone call to the police to make them aware that a child is not in school.

Children with mild coughs, colds, sore throats, sneezing and runny noses who are otherwise well can continue to attend school. However, if they develop a high temperature (above 38°C) they should stay at home until their temperature has reduced and are well enough to return to school.   Please do not send your child to school if they are unwell; we have very limited facilities for looking after sick children.  Children who have suffered sickness or diarrhoea should not return to school for at least 48 hours after the sickness or diarrhoea has stopped.  If you are uncertain of how long your child should be absent, please refer to the NHS guidance below:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

It is essential that we have an up-to-date day time telephone number where we can contact parents should children become ill or have an accident.

If it is necessary for medicines to be brought into school, then the prescribed medicine should be clearly labelled with the name of the child.  It should be brought to the school office where you will be required to complete a consent form detailing the dosage and times when the medicine should be administered.  Over the counter medicines such as ointments must also be agreed with the school office and a subsequent form completed.  We will not accept any medicines that do not come in original packaging.

Parents of children requiring regular or long-term medical treatment are welcome to discuss this with a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Collecting Before the End of the Day

If it is necessary for your child to leave school before the end of the day, please ring or email the school office stating the time at which the child will be collected. No child will be allowed to leave the site unless collected by their parents or another adult who is known by the school to have permission from the parent to collect their child.  All children must be signed out at the school office.

Leave of Absence

We believe that children need to be in school for all sessions, so that they can make the most progress possible. However, we do understand that there are times where a parent may request leave of absence in exceptional circumstances.  Holiday requests will not be authorised.  Prior to any leave of absence, a request should be made by completing a ‘Term Time Leave Request’ form. These forms are available from the school office and should be completed at least three weeks before the absence.  Parent/Carers will be informed, by email, as to whether the request meets the criteria for an authorised absence.

Please note that the majority of requests from parents for holidays during term time are regularly marked as unauthorised; this is in line with guidance at a local and national level.

In April 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the ban on parents taking their children out of school for family holidays during term time. Delivering the judgment, the deputy president of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale, said: “Unauthorised absences have a disruptive effect, not only on the education of the individual child but also on the work of other pupils.

“If one pupil can be taken out whenever it suits the parent, then so can others … Any educational system expects people to keep the rules. Not to do so is unfair to those obedient parents who do keep the rules, whatever the costs or inconvenience to themselves.”

Unauthorised Absence

Unauthorised absence is defined as any unaccounted for absence from school or a child arriving after the register has closed at 9:20 am without a suitable explanation. Unauthorised absence figures for Clifton Primary school are collated during the summer term and any unauthorised absence will be recorded on your child’s school report.