Attendance

Please click on the link to see our Attendance Policy.

We would love for children to attend 100% of the time but attendance above 95% is seen as good attendance. When a child’s attendance is less than 95%, we will look to make sure that any barriers to good school attendance are supported.

Working together

Being in school and having the best attendance possible underpins all the many benefits of school for your child, their learning, wellbeing and wider development. For some children, attending school every day will be harder than for others. This is why our School is committed to working together with families to solve problems and support children’s school attendance.

Is my child too ill for school?

It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they're unwell.

There are government guidelines for schools about managing specific infectious diseases at GOV.UK. These say when children should be kept off school and when they shouldn't. If you do keep your child at home, it's important to phone or email the school on the first day and on each day of absence. Let us know that your child won't be attending and give the reason.

Being on time is important

The gates open at 8.30am and close at 9am. Learning in school begins for everyone at 8:45am. If your child arrives after 8.45am, they will miss out on the start of their learning, which will mean they are trying to catch up rather than being fully prepared and settled.

Medical Appointments

We ask that as many appointments as possible are made outside of the school day. If your child needs to attend a medical appointment in the school day, you must let the school know and show the letter or appointment card for the absence to be authorised.

Attendance Monitoring

Every week, attendance information about our children is looked at. When children are not in school they are missing out and catching up on lost learning which is very difficult.

Children who have attended less than 90% are persistently absent. Children with an attendance of less than 95% are monitored closely and families are contacted so that support can be put in place if needed. We don't want our fabulous children to miss out on a great education!

Supporting Attendance

Exploring why a child has an attendance of less than 95% happens through informal Attendance Reviews - a conversation. If things don’t improve after an attendance review, we can support things that make attendance difficult using an Attendance Action Plan or a Team Around the Child (TAC) plan. We will use an Early Help Assessment to help us with this. The headteacher and attendance governor may be a part of this process. If the support put in place does not make a difference, then the school will consider a fixed penalty notice after consultation with the local authority.

Fines

Children need to be in school every day when they are well. There are 13 weeks of school holidays, and we encourage all holidays to be taken then. Term-time holiday requests will not be granted and will be fined.

The first time a Penalty Notice is issued, for term time leave or irregular attendance, the amount will be: £160 per parent, per child, if paid within 28 days but reduced to £80 per parent, per child, if paid within 21 days.

The second time a Penalty Notice is issued for term time leave or irregular attendance, within 3 years of the first offence, the amount will be: £160 per parent, per child, to be paid within 28 days. No reduced rate will be offered.

The third time an offence is committed within 3 years, for term time leave or irregular attendance, a Penalty Notice will not be issued, a

nd the case will be presented straight to the Magistrates’ Court. Magistrates’ fines can be up to £2,500 per parent, per child. Cases found guilty in Magistrates' Court can show on a parent’s future DBS certificate due to a failure to safeguard a child’s education.

Tables of Responsibilities

All Pupils

Expectations of parents:	Expectations of Sir William Robertson Academy:
Ensure that that child attends every day that the school is open, except when a statutory reason applies.	Have a clear school attendance policy on the school website which staff, pupils and can understand.
Notify the school as soon as possible when their child has to be unexpectedly absent (e.g. sickness).	Develop and maintain a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of good attendance.
Only request leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and do so in advance.	Accurately complete admission and attendance registers.
Book any medical appointments around the school day where possible.	Have robust daily processes to follow up absences.

Pupils at risk of becoming Persistently Absent

Expectations of parents:	Expectations of Sir William Robertson Academy:
Work with the school to help us understand any barriers to attendance.	Proactively use data to identify pupils at risk of poor attendance.
Proactively engage with support offered to prevent the need for more formal support.	Work with those identified pupils and their parents to understand and address any barriers/reasons for absence.
Work with school to always encourage good attendance, even in the more difficult times.	Where out of school barriers are identified, signpost and support access to any required services in the first instance.

If the issue persists, take an active part in the multi-agency effort with the local authority and other partners. Act as the lead practitioner where all partners agree that the school is the best placed lead service. Where the lead practitioner is outside of the school, continue to work with the local authority and partners.

Persistently Absent Pupils

Expectations of parents:	Expectations of Sir William Robertson Academy:
Work with the school and local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance.	Continued support as for pupils at risk of becoming persistently absent and:
Proactively engage with the formal support offered – including any parenting contract or voluntary early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.	Where absence becomes persistent, put additional targeted support in place to remove any barriers. Where necessary this includes working with partners.
	Where support id not working, being engaged with or appropriate, work with the local authority on legal intervention.
	Where there are safeguarding concerns, intensify support through statutory children’s social care.
	Work with other schools previously attended and the school of any siblings

Persistently Absent Pupils

Expectations of parents:	Expectations of Sir William Robertson Academy:
Work with the school and local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance.	Continued support as for pupils at risk of becoming persistently absent and:
Proactively engage with the formal support offered – including any parenting contract or voluntary early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.	Where absence becomes persistent, put additional targeted support in place to remove any barriers. Where necessary this includes working with partners.
	Where support id not working, being engaged with or appropriate, work with the local authority on legal intervention.
	Where there are safeguarding concerns, intensify support through statutory children’s social care.
	Work with other schools previously attended and the school of any siblings

Severely Absent Pupils

Expectations of parents:	Expectations of Sir William Robertson Academy:
Work with the school and local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance.	Continued support as for persistently absent pupils and :
Proactively engage with the formal support offered – including any early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.	Agree a joint approach for all severely absent pupils with the local authority.

Support for pupils with medical conditions or SEND with poor attendance

Expectations of parents:	Expectations of Sir William Robertson Academy:
Work with the school and the local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance.	Maintain the same ambition for attendance and work with pupils and parents to maximise attendance.
Proactively engage with the support offered.	Ensure join up with pastoral support and where required, put in place additional support and adjustments, such as an individual health care plan and if applicable, ensuring the provision outlined in the pupils EHCP is accessed.
	Consider additional support from wider services and external partner, making timely referrals.
	Regularly monitor data for such groups, including at board and governing body meetings and with local authorities.

Support for pupils with a social worker

Expectations of parents:

Expectations of Sir William Robertson Academy:

Work with the school and local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance.

Inform the pupils social worker if there are any unexplained absences and if their name is to be deleted from the register.

Proactively engage with the support offered.