Attendance and Punctuality

The government expectation is that pupils will be present at school for at last 96% of the time. Being present in school means that children are able to access their full right to an education. 

Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 28 says that “State Parties recognise the right of children to education”

Article 29 focuses on the aims of education and says that governments agree that: the education of the child shall be directed to:

• The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.
• The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
• The development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate and for civilisations different from his or her own.
• The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin.
• The development of respect for the natural environment.

The 1990 World Declaration on Education for All described education as consisting of essential learning tools such as literacy, numeracy and problem solving combined with knowledge, skills, values and attitudes required by human beings to survive, develop potential, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions and to continue learning.

Illness and Absence

Unfortunately, illness happens and we understand that there will be times your child has to miss school, especially if we have an outbreak of sickness, chicken pox, etc…Schools have strict guidelines set by the NHS regarding how long children need to stay off school with different illnesses. Please check this below, as we may not be able to authorise some absences, if the period of absence is longer than the period recommended. If your child is unwell and you feel they are too unwell to access school, please call the school office (0151 3551546) and either speak to a member of our Admin Team, or leave a message on the school answer machine.

We have a duty of care to know where our pupils are during school hours, so do please call and inform us at the earliest opportunity. Please do not tell staff at the gates or in passing, as these messages sometimes do not end up with the correct people who oversee attendance and registers. 

Punctuality

Doors of the school open at 8:35am and school officially starts at 8:45am. This means that children are late if they arrive after this time. If they arrive after the gates have been shut, your child will need to enter school through the main entrance, where you will be asked to provide a reason for their lateness. If they arrive after 9:25am, they will receive an ‘unauthorised’ mark in the register for the morning session. Ten unauthorised absences can lead to the Local Authority issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice, which is currently £80 per child, per adult. It is vital that families get into a punctual routine as soon as possible in a child’s education, as every minute counts!

Communication with School

If your child is not in school when the registers close at 8:55am, you may receive a call from either of our School Family Liaision Officers, Mrs Ramsay, Mrs Lenihan and Mrs Savory, who will ring to see where your child is and what reason they are absent. If we are unable to speak to you, we will leave a voicemail (but will not state your child's name for GDPR reasons) and may also send a message. Please respond to these messages. If we do not see your child for a couple of days and have not been able to speak to parents, a member of our team will then carry out a home visit to do a welfare check on you and your child. 

Medical Appointments

We appreciate how challenging it is in this current climate to get an appointment at the GP or the dentist, so do understand that some medical appointments may be necessary during the school day. However, we ask that you avoid these, if at all possible, and where they are unavoidable, please only have your child absent for the minimum amount of time required for the appointment and please provide evidence of the appointment so that we can correctly record the absence in registers. 

Leave of Absence in Term Time

Your children attend school for 190 days out of 365. This leaves 175 days for holidays! Please book your family holidays during these 175 days of school holiday time. Leave of absence in term time cannot be authorised, unless there are exceptional circumstances (1-day wedding of parents, people in the armed forces). If you do take your child on a leave of absence during term time and they miss 5 days or more and are of statutory school age, you will receive a Fixed Penalty Notice from the Local Authority. This is currently £80 if paid within 21 days or £160 if paid within 28 days. This charge is per parent, per child. If the Fixed Penalty Notive remains unpaid this could lead to prosecution in the Magistrates Court and if a second Penalty Notice is issued to the same parent, for the same pupil within 3 years of the first notice, the second notice is charged at a flat rate of £160 per parent per pupil, if paid within 28 days. A third penalty notice must not be issued within a 3 year period, therefore in cases where the threshold is met for a third or subsequent times, within those 3 years, a penalty notice cannot be issued and alternative action will be taken instead.  This will will often include considered prosecution.

The process for requesting a leave of absence is to complete a ‘Request for Absence’ form, which can be found below, or a paper copy can be requested from the office. This must be returned to school, ideally well in advance of the date of the leave of absence. We can then formally respond to your request, in writing. Please also note, Year 1, Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6 sit statutory national assessments at points in the year and it is VITAL they do not miss these!

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