Attendance and Punctuality
Attend every day and achieve in the future
At Evington Valley Primary School, we expect the very best of our children and celebrate their hard work and achievement. In order for our children to reach their potential, good attendance and punctuality are considered a high priority.
Research has proven that there is a high correlation between school attendance and academic performance and success.
Absence from school is often the greatest single cause of poor performance and achievement.
Our attendance ‘floor target’ is 96%, but we hope for 100%.
It is the responsibility and legal duty of parents/carers to ensure that their child attends school. We seek a partnership with parents to encourage good attendance and punctuality.
Legal responsibilities
- Parents have a legal duty to ensure that their child attends regularly and punctually.
- The Local Authority has a legal duty to ensure that parents carry out this responsibility. The school has a legal duty to record absence of registered pupils in compliance with the regulations.
Why is it so important to attend and be punctual every day?
- Learning is a progressive activity; each day’s lessons build upon those of the previous day(s).
- Reading the material and completing work independently does not compensate for direct interaction with the teacher.
- Many classes use discussions, demonstrations, experiments and participation as part of the daily learning activities, and these cannot be made up by those who are absent.
- Children who are late to school miss important information and activities that are important to readying them for the day’s learning.
- Children who attend and are punctual every day enjoy the social aspects of being with their peers and develop personal interaction skills
Are there other benefits to my child?
- Pupils with good attendance and punctuality records generally achieve higher levels of attainment and enjoy school more.
- Having a good education will help to give your child the best possible start in life.
- Regular school attendance and punctuality patterns encourage the development of other responsible patterns of behaviour.
What are the risks of frequent absences?
- A child who does not attend school regularly and on time will be unlikely to keep up with the work.
- The more pupils miss school, the lower their attainment; the lower their attainment, the less they want to stay in school.
What can parents do to help?
- Parents must model the value of education, including the importance of regular attendance.
- Make sure that your child goes to school regularly and arrives on time - you will establish a good habit that they will carry through life.
- If your child starts missing school, work with the school to put things right. Make sure your child understands that you do not approve of him/her missing school.
- If your child is ill or must miss school for some other reason, contact the school office between 8am and 9am. If you ask for home learning, make sure your child completes it.
- Do not expect school to approve of shopping trips, birthday treats etc. during school hours. Arrange family holidays so that your child will not miss any learning.
- Take an interest in your child’s school work and be involved in the school as much as possible - your child will value school more if you do.
Absence from school
If your child is absent from school, parents/carers are requested to phone or email the school office between 8am and 9am on the first day of absence and, if the absence is for more than one day, please maintain contact with school daily.
Parents are required to inform the school of all absence by personal contact, letter, email or telephone. Notification of the nature of the illness and the expected length of absence is also requested.
A telephone call to the parent/carer will be made on the first day of each non-attendance if a message has not already been received.
If an explanation for absence is unsatisfactory, parents will be contacted to discuss any difficulties with school attendance.
For medical or other appointments during the school day, notification is required in advance and evidence of appointments may be requested. Routine appointments/check-ups should be made out of school hours wherever possible.
Leave of absence during term time
From 1st September 2013, a change to government legislation means that schools are no longer allowed to authorise requests for children to be taken out of school for a holiday during term time.
Requests for leave can only be granted by schools if there are “exceptional circumstances” and holidays are not considered exceptional. Requests for leave must be made to the head teacher in advance, as the Department for Education has told schools that they cannot authorise any absences after they have been taken. Evidence will be required to support requests for leave in "exceptional circumstances" and the Education Welfare Officer will be informed.
A penalty notice is a fine to parents or carers if they fail to ensure that their child/ren attend school regularly.
If a penalty notice is issued, it will be one fine to cover the whole period of the absence. So, the fine would be the same amount for an absence of five days or 10 days. For example, a parent could be issued with £60 fine if their child misses one day of school each week over a five-week period, whilst another parent might be issued the same fine for one two-week block of absence.
Penalty fines are £60 per child per parent if paid within 21 days, and £120 if paid between 22 and 28 days. If the fine is not paid, parents will be reported for prosecution.
The role of the Attendance & Welfare Officer and Education Welfare Officer
The Education Welfare Officer is a member of the Local Education Authority team which has responsibility for promoting, encouraging and enforcing regular school attendance. The Education Welfare Officer is in regular contact with the school Attendance & Welfare Officer, Mrs Sarang, to look at attendance, patterns of absence (e.g. Fridays) and lateness. Children whose attendance is less than 90% will be referred, depending on circumstances, as well as any families that are causing serious concern to the school. This may lead to a School Attendance Agreement being required, which the parent/carers, Head Teacher and Education Welfare Officer all sign. Registers are monitored by the Education Welfare Officer at least half-termly.
If there are any issues regarding attendance it is vital that parents contact the school as soon as possible so that we can support both you and your child. We have a range of options available so please do not hesitate to get in touch. Unfortunately, if very poor attendance is not addressed, it could result in a heavy fine or even court proceedings. Please see our Attendance Policy which is available on our website.
We reward 100% attendance and improved attendance, so it is never too late to turn things around. All children benefit from regular attendance.
REMEMBER – Regular attendance is necessary for success in school. Help ensure that your child has the best opportunity for success by making sure he/she is in school every day.
- Attendance Punctuality Policy 2024 25
- Attendance and Punctuality Leaflet 2024 2025
- penalty notices changes august 2024 poster for schools
Attendance rates for the current academic year
(figures in bold are at or above our attendance target of 96%)
83.2%82.9%
SEPT | OCT | NOV | DEC | JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUNE | JULY | |
Laurel | 94.1% | 94.2% | 95.2% | 94.4% | 94% | ||||||
Maple | 95.1% | 92.6% |
94.4% |
93.7% | 94.1% | ||||||
Redwood | 96.8% | 94.7% | 94.6% | 97% | 93.8% | ||||||
Pine | 95.3% | 94.3% | 89.3% | 91.1% | 94.3% | ||||||
Spruce | 96.7% | 95.4% | 96.5% | 89.2% | 92.4% | ||||||
Larch | 94.6% | 97% | 93% | 92.4% | 91% | ||||||
Chestnut | 94.9% | 89% | 93.6% | 88% | 93.9% | ||||||
Elm | 90.7% | 94% | 86.8% | 93% | 89.5% | ||||||
Birch | 92.6% | 88% | 87.1% | 87.9% | 90.6% | ||||||
Oak | 89.7% | 92.3% | 83.2% | 82.9% | 93% | ||||||
Ash | 90.5% | 92.2% | 85.5% | 84.9% | 88.3% | ||||||
Willow am | 91.2% | 89.1% | 84.5% | 82.3% | 75.7% | ||||||
Willow pm | 95.7% | 90.1% | 85.2% | 89.1% | 84.1% | ||||||
Whole School | 93.9% | 92.9% | 90.8% | 90.4% | 91.5% |