At Beeston Primary we know the impact regular attendance has on your child’s learning and well-being; and that having good attendance is directly linked to raising achievement and develops skills for life and work.
Coming to school regularly helps build self-esteem and confidence in children as well as teaching them social skills and academic knowledge. Regular attendance is a legal requirement and is crucial if our pupils are to be successful and able to benefit from the opportunities offered to them in school. Any absence affects the pattern of a child’s schooling and regular absence will seriously affect their learning.
It is a parent’s or carer’s responsibility to ensure their child attends school regularly and on time. As a school, we expect the highest level of attendance from all pupils.
Emergency Medical Appointments during School Hours
If your child has an emergency medical/dental appointment or a hospital appointment during school time, parents/carers are required to inform the school office of the appointment as soon as possible. You will need to show proof of the appointment which can also be emailed to attendance@beestonprimary.org. Routine check-ups should be made outside of school hours.
We actively promote 100% attendance and we look for all children to have attendance above 96% in order to ensure that they get the best possible education available.
In school, we have many initiatives to celebrate and support attendance and ask that parents/careers support the school in this by ensuring that your child attends school every day and arrives ready to learn and on time at 8.50 am. Parents will be notified by letter if their child’s attendance is below 92%.
What does an attendance percentage really mean?
| Attendance % | Absence per week/fortnight | Absence per year | Absence over 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95% | 1/2 day fortnightly | 2 weeks | 1/4 year |
| 90% | 1/2 day weekly | 4 weeks | 1/2 year |
| 85% | 1 1/2 days fortnightly | 6 weeks | 3/4 year |
| 80% | 1 day weekly | 8 weeks | 1 year |
| 75% | 2 1/2 days fortnightly | 10 weeks | 1 1/4 year |
| 70% | 1 1/2 days weekly | 12 weeks | 1 1/2 year |
| 65% | 3 1/2 days fornightly | 14 weeks | 1 3/4 year |
| 60% | 2 days weekly | 16 weeks | 2 years |
| 55% | 4 1/2 days fortnightly | 18 weeks | 2 1/4 years |
| 50% | 2 1/2 days weekly | 20 weeks | 2 1/2 years |
Fast Track Attendance Monitoring
We have a very efficient system in school called ‘Fast Track’ which enables our Attendance Team to monitor and analyse attendance data to quickly identify pupils whose attendance is causing concern. If your child has 10 sessions (5 days) unauthorised absence in a term they will be placed on the Fast Track initiative.
Fast Track promotes early intervention to improve school attendance and punctuality. It involves pupils, parents/carers, schools and the Local Authority. It sets clear expectations for attendance and punctuality and gives an 8-week period for improvement to be made. It explains procedures should parents fail to meet their legal responsibility which may result in a penalty notice being issued.
The Attendance Team meet regularly with parents of children placed on the Fast Track Initiative. They will talk through any difficulties parents may be experiencing and will support parents by putting strategies in place; this support may include referring the family to an outside agency, or supporting children to attend school with individual medical needs.
Fast Track Leaflet for Parent/Carers
From 1 September 2013, schools are no longer allowed to authorise any requests for children to be taken out of school for a holiday during term time.
Here is further information on Taking Time Off School in Term Time.
Parents may receive a penalty notice if their child is absent from school without permission
From September 2013 the cost of these notices will be £60 per child per parent if paid within 21 days, and £120 if paid between 22 and 28 days. Further information
Late Arrival at School
When your child arrives late at school, he/she misses the teacher’s instructions and the introduction to the lesson. Your child may also feel embarrassed at having to enter the classroom late.
The table below shows the impact of arriving just a few minutes late can have on the amount of learning your child is missing. Every time a child arrives late for school it disrupts the whole class and they miss vital teacher input for the first lesson of the day. Frequent lateness can add up to a considerable amount of learning lost, and can seriously disadvantage your child.
Our gates open at 8:40 am. School begins at 8:50 am.
Please help your child to be punctual.
| Minutes late per day during the school year | Teaching days lost per year |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes | 3.4 days |
| 10 minutes | 6.9 days |
| 15 minutes | 10.3 days |
| 20 minutes | 13.8 days |
| 30 minutes | 20.7 days |
Promoting Attendance and Support
We believe that working together with parents is the best way to result in positive attendance outcomes for our children.
We have lots of high profile rewards and systems in school to promote good attendance and punctuality with the children.
The children are awarded daily points for attendance on our Pupil Rewards System. Each week we hold a class attendance competition to compete for the Attendance Trophy.
Attendance is celebrated in our Foundation Stage with our weekly ‘School Attendance Matters’ SAM Competition. Each week, all children in FS2 who have 100% attendance receive a reward sticker and are placed in a draw to win a Breakfast Hamper for home. The class with the highest attendance that week also get to take care of Sam the dog, our attendance soft toy mascot.
The Attendance Team in school are happy to work with both children and families to improve attendance and punctuality; please contact Mrs Gahan or Mrs Singleton on 0113 2716978 (Option 1).
Beeston Primary School and Beeston, Cottingley and Middleton (BCM) Cluster Attendance Policies
