Attendance

It is essential that children form good habits of regular attendance at school from an early age and that good attendance is maintained throughout their school career. It is a legal requirement that all children should attend their educational provision and it is the Parent/Carers responsibility to ensure that this happens.

Malmesbury Park Primary School is committed to working together with families to ensure that all of our children attend school every day and therefore monitor every child’s attendance regularly. A child’s attendance causes us concern when it falls below 96% (this is the minimum national expectation for attendance at school) and becomes very concerning when it falls below 90% (this is called Persistent Absence). When a child’s attendance begins to fall below 96% we work closely with the child, family and the ESW (Education Social Worker) to provide support and ensure the child attends school regularly and avoids becoming a persistent absentee.

At Malmesbury Primary School we:

• Monitor every child’s attendance regularly and contact families to offer support when attendance levels cause us concern.
• Expect all children to be in school on-time.
• Good time-keeping is key to ensuring children benefit from the maximum learning time available and is also a key skill for adult life. Lateness is recorded and monitored regularly and contributes to a child’s overall absence record.
• Operate ‘First Day Calling’. If your child is not at school and you have not notified us, we will call you to ask why your child is not in school and when they are expected to return. We will make subsequent calls if your child does not return when expected.
• If your child is ill, it is your responsibility to ensure the school is informed by telephone on the absence reporting line before 08:40 with details of the illness. The school phone number is 01202 291227.
• Record any absence which is not authorised by the school as unauthorised.
• Unauthorised absence has the potential to impact on a child’s overall absence record and could result in legal action.
• Expect families to make routine medical/dental appointments outside of the school day/term-time.
• Where appointments need to be made during the school day/term-time (e.g. medical emergencies, appointments issued by a hospital department) medical evidence of the appointment must be provided to school.
• Do not authorise any leave of absence in term time, except for exceptional circumstances (e.g. religious observation).
• It is essential that any request for Leave of Absence, holiday or otherwise, is submitted to the school office in writing by the completion of the school Leave of Absence form. All requests will be considered and families notified of the outcome, however, requests are not routinely granted.
• Refer children to School Health when illness affects a child’s attendance at school.
• Whilst we understand that children become ill on occasion, significant gaps are created in learning which affect the child long term when they miss school for long periods over time.
• Do not allow children to leave school during the school day unless prior notice has been given and this has been agreed with a Senior Member of Staff.
• Requests for leave during the school day should be made using the school leave of absence form.

Malmesbury Park Primary School is committed to ensuring every child has the maximum opportunity to thrive and achieve success and recognises that good attendance is central to this.