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Attendance


Why is good attendance so important?
We want children to attend school every day. We know that children are happy when they are learning and spending time with their peers in a safe environment.
The majority of children do attend every day but we have also introduced incentives and rewards to encourage children and acknowledge their effort and resilience. 

Key Reasons for Good School Attendance
Academic Achievement: Regular attendees have better grades and higher academic outcomes, such as higher chances of passing English and maths.


Social and Emotional Growth: Attending school daily helps children build confidence, social skills, and strong, lasting friendships.


Routine and Stability: School provides a safe, consistent environment that helps children establish routines, preparing them for future responsibilities like employment.


Personal Development: Students can participate in extracurricular activities and receive consistent pastoral care, strengthening their sense of belonging.


Future Opportunities: Good attendance rates are linked to better long-term prospects, reducing the risk of becoming not in education, employment, or training (NEET). 
Consequences of poor attendance

Falling Behind: Missing days leads to gaps in knowledge, making it difficult for students to keep up with curriculum changes.


Reduced Opportunities: Persistent absence is associated with lower academic qualifications, which can lead to limited career opportunities.


Increased Vulnerability: Frequent absence can lead to lower self-esteem and increased anxiety, and it can also increase the risk of vulnerability to harm. 


We have involved the school council in identifying strategies that they think will improve attendance:

Whole class 97% attendance incentive
Good attendance is the responsibility of the child and the family around them. However, developing collective responsibility and resilience is something that we also value. That is why we have introduced the 97% attendance incentive. All classes that can achieve 97% in a week get additional breaktime on a Friday for them all to enjoy together. The weekly outcomes are displayed ad communicated on the school newsletter.

This initiative came from an idea from the School Councillors.

The 100%Attendance Arcade

In order to reward the individual effort of children who consistently get 100% attendance the school council asked for a reward scheme. They came up with the Attendance Arcade where children can save up weeks of 100% attendance as savings stamps to buy prizes from the arcade. They decided on the prizes as well as the values that would be attributed to them. Some prizes can be won in just a few weeks where some big prizes may take a year to win. It's up to the individual!


Communicating with school about attendance

If your child will not be in school for any reason it is your responsibility to inform us. The best way to do this is by calling the office (01726 890323) to speak to a staff member or by leaving a message.

If your child is unwell and you want to discuss how long they should be absent from school for then call the office to discuss this with a staff member.

If you are aware of your child having a medical or dental appointment, inform us before the day of the appointment. In some circumstances we may ask for proof of the appointment in the form of a letter or email from the service involved e.g doctor, hospital, dentist.

If your child will be absent from school or you plan for them to be absent from school for a reason such as a holiday or a family event please speak to us first. In most cases these types of absences can not be authorised and therefore can result in issue of penalty notices. We want to work with you to ensure that this does not happen. You can find the complete details of these procedures in the policies on this page.