Attendance Matters

Both the school and parents have a legal duty with regard to student attendance. Working together and communication between the school and parents is vital. Student absence from school for any reason (illness, appointments, leave for exceptional circumstances) will cause your child to miss lessons and it will affect your child’s education so we need to encourage open and honest communication between parents and the school. Poor attendance and punctuality will be monitored, and we will seek advice and support from our Education Social Worker (ESW) where necessary. We will liaise with the child and the parent/carer in an effort to support and hopefully improve the child’s attendance. However, in some cases, when all else fails, the school may resort to fixed penalty fines or even prosecution. Under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996, ‘The parent/guardian is responsible for ensuring their child receives a full time education.’

Support with Attendance

If you have any concerns or problems with regard to your child’s attendance, please do not hesitate to contact the school office on 01202 528811. We have the benefit of our Pastoral Support Worker as well as our Attendance Officer in the school office who are always available to support you and your child and discuss arising attendance matters.  

Absence from school

Illness - If your child is ill, please telephone the school office on 01202 528811 to report your child’s absence. It can be challenging sometimes for parents to determine when their child is too ill to attend school. This is why we recommend you look at the useful tool in the link below, which offers advice to help you make that decision. Don’t forget, children can come to school if they are on antibiotics, if they are well enough, you just need to complete a request form for us to administer medication in school, which you will find in the School Office and on our school website.

https://www.what0-18.nhs.uk/parentscarers/worried-your-child-unwell/child-unwell-ok-go-nurseryschool

Arrival late to School - The bell for the start of the day goes at 8.40am and the gates will then be locked. If you arrive late to school for any reason, you will need to go to the main office. We closely monitor lateness as it has a detrimental impact on children’s education.

Appointments - We request that, whenever possible, you make appointments after school or during the holidays. We do appreciate that sometimes this is not possible. If you know in advance that your child will be absent during school hours for a Doctor, Dentist or Hospital Appointment, please inform the school of the appointment in writing and provide us with a copy of the appointment letter.

Absence Requests - In line with the Government guidelines, Headteachers are not permitted to authorise any absence from school (including holidays), unless the reasons are exceptional, e.g. a family bereavement. If you need to request an exceptional absence during term time, please write a letter to Mrs Woodward explaining the reason for the request with 10 days’ notice, where possible.

Penalty Notices - Attendance penalty notices will be issued in line with the national framework (updated from August 2024). 

They can be issued for irregular attendance - where a child has unauthorised absences of 10 sessions or more in any 10-week period. Sessions refer to each half a school day. These 10 sessions could be made up of term time leave (i.e. unauthorised family holiday), unauthorised late marks, or other unauthorised absences.

The new penalty notice regulations are:

• Each parent will be issued a separate penalty notice, for each child concerned.

• The fine amount will be £160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days, or it will be reduced to £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days.

• This will be considered your first offence.

• The next time an offence occurs, within 3 years of the date the first penalty notice is issued, the fine amount will be £160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days, with no reduction.

• The third time an offence occurs this will be presented to Magistrate’s court with no penalty notice issued.

Term time leave does not just include holidays. Where a child is absent and it is believed by the school that they are absent due to term time leave, rather than illness, schools will be expected to carry out a home visit and see the child on or before the 3^rd school day of absence.

The Local Authority have written a letter to explain more about the changes with regards to penalty notices and what it means for parents, you can find their letter below.

You will find our attendance policy in Key Information > Policies.

The attendance figures displayed on our homepage are updated half termly; you will find more detailed attendance updates and news below.

Attendance for Academic Year 2024/25

End of Spring Term 1

We are halfway through the academic year now and our attendance at the end of Spring Term 1 was 96.03%. We are really pleased to be at our target at this stage of the year. Here is the attendance breakdown for each year group;

Well done to all those year groups at target. Reception and Year 4 are a little below, but they are not far off! 

Attendance for Academic Year 2024/25

End of Autumn Term 2

Our attendance at the end of Autumn Term 2 was 95.73%. We have dropped below our target of 96% but are sure we can reach our target again as we move into the Spring Term. We had lots of illnesses in December and we hope that those children affected are feeling better. Here is the attendance breakdown for each year group;

Year 1 and Year 3 are on target, so well done to them! We also had 73 children who achieved 100% attendance by the end of term. 

Attendance for Academic Year 2024/25

End of Autumn Term 1

Our attendance at the end of Autumn Term 1 was 96.61%. We are currently above our 96% target. Here is the attendance breakdown for each year group;

All our year groups are on target and Year 4 is doing particularly well. Well done to them for exceeding the target!

Attendance for Academic Year 2023/24

End of Summer Term 2

Our attendance at the end of the academic year was was 95.99%. We were so close to reaching our 96% target. We also improved from the end of the last academic year where our attendance was 95.42%. Here is a breakdown of the attendance for each year group at the end of this academic year.

Well done to Year 4, 5 and 6 for exceeding the 96% target. We are going to set the same target of 96% for the year ahead. We will continue to support individual children with their attendance and punctuality. 

Attendance for Academic Year 2023/24

End of Summer Term 1

Our attendance at the end of Summer Term 1 was 96.12%. This has risen since the previous half term and we are still above our target of 96%. We hope to maintain this standard throughout our final term. Remember every day matters, even towards the end of the school year. Here is the attendance breakdown for each year group;

Well done again to all of key stage 2 for being above target, they have maintained this since the Autumn Term!

Attendance for Academic Year 2023/24

End of Spring Term 2

We are half way through the year now and I am pleased to tell you that our attendance at the end of the Spring Term was 96.02%. It is lower than the previous half term but we are really pleased that we are still above our target of 96% - but only just! Hopefully as the weather gets better there will be fewer bugs around and we can continue to stay above target throughout the Summer Term. Here is the attendance breakdown for each year group;

Well done again to all of key stage 2 for being above target!

Attendance for Academic Year 2023/24

End of Spring Half Term 1

At the end of Spring Term 1, our school had an impressive whole school attendance of 96.12%, which is above our target of 96%. This is great news and we hope to maintain this level going forward. In comparison, the overall attendance for all schools in BCP Council was 94.8%, and we are pleased to currently be ranked 10th out of 65 primary schools in BCP Council. However, we have identified areas where we can improve our attendance, such as reducing the number of late arrivals and unauthorised absences. Here is a breakdown of our whole school attendance by year group:

Please also make sure you read our mid-way through the year letter reminding you of our school attendance expectations and news. Click to read - Attendance News February 2024.

Attendance for Academic Year 2023/24

End of Autumn Half Term 2

At the end of Autumn Half Term 2 our whole school attendance was 95.76% which is lower than our 96% target. We did have a lot of illness over the last 2 weeks of term but we noticed that there was an increase in unauthorised absences dues to day trips and holidays. It is vital that such events should take place at weekends and school holidays. Reducing unauthorised absences, particularly towards the end of a term is going to become our priority. Here is a breakdown of the overall attendance for each year group. Well done to Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 as they are above target!

Attendance for Academic Year 2023/24

End of Autumn Half Term 1

At the end of Autumn Half Term 1 our whole school attendance was 96.45%. Our target is 96%, so we are doing well so far! Here is a breakdown of the overall attendance for each year group. Year 1 & Year 2 are just below target, but I’m sure they will pick up this half term. Well done to all the other year groups and in particular Year 4 as they are well above target.

Attendance for Academic Year 2022/23

End of Summer Half Term 2 

Our whole school attendance was 95.42% by the end of the academic year. Here is a breakdown of the final attendance for each year group:

KS2 did very well. We are pleased to see that Year 4, 5 and 6 achieved 96%. We will work hard with KS1 next year to help them achieve 95%+. 

Attendance for Academic Year 2022/23

End of Summer Half Term 1 

Our whole school attendance was 95.32% at the end of Summer Term 1, which is exactly the same as the end of the Spring Term. It is a shame that it hasn’t gone up but we are pleased to see it hasn’t gone down! We are now in the final half term and we really do want to get to 96% attendance - it is achievable. Here is a breakdown of the attendance per year group and per key stage: 

We ask that you do all you can to ensure children attend school as much as possible, thank you.

Attendance for Academic Year 2022/23

End of Spring Half Term 2 

Our whole school attendance was 95.32% by the end of Spring Half Term 2. Here is a breakdown of the attendance for each year group:

Well done to Year 4 who are currently above 96%. As a whole, Key Stage 2 is not far off 96%. We are heading for the summer term and hope that with the warmer weather, fewer bugs will go around. We are now striving to get to 96% by the May half-term. We ask that you continue to do all you can to ensure children attend school as much as possible, thank you.

Attendance for Academic Year 2022/23

End of Spring Half Term 1 

Our whole school attendance was 95.44% by the end of Spring Half Term 1. We are just below our target of 96.5%. Here is a breakdown of the attendance for each year group:

We are halfway through the year now and heading for the spring. Hopefully, there will be fewer illnesses and bugs around going forward. We hope that we can reach 96% by the end of this term, as that is an achievable target. 

Attendance for Academic Year 2022/23

End of Autumn Half Term 2 

Our whole school attendance was 95.47% by the end of Autumn Half Term 2. That is below our target of 96.5%.  Here is a breakdown of the attendance for each year group:

We had a lot of absences due to illness leading up to Christmas which has impacted our final attendance figure for the term. Hopefully, we will see an improvement through the Spring Term.

Attendance for Academic Year 2022/23

End of Autumn Half Term 1 

Our whole school attendance was 96.93% by the end of Autumn Half Term 1. Our target is 96.5% so we are on track.  Here is a breakdown of the attendance for each year group:

Most year groups have exceeded the target. Reception and Year 1 are just below but we are sure they will catchup over the rest of the term.