Attendance
Attendance for week ending 19th April 2024
Reception - 95%
Year 1 & 2 - 93.06%
Year 3 & 4 - 88.64%
Year 5 & 6 - 93.52%
Whole School - 92.21%
Beckermet Church of England Primary School aims to ensure that:
- All pupils have an equal right, and access to , education in accordance with the National Curriculum.
- No pupils are deprived of their educational opportunities by either their own non-attendance or lateness, or that of other pupils.
Monitoring Attendance
Registers and attendance statistics are monitored by the Head Teacher on a weekly basis. These are shared with the governing body, specifically the Pupil Welfare Committee. At the beginning of each school year targets are set for improvement in attendance. Progress towards these targets is reported to Governors throughout the year.
Targets 2023-2024
Overall attendance above 96.5%
Persistent absence less that 3.6%
The DFE state that any pupil whose attendance is less than 90% is a "Persistent Absentee." To try and prevent this wherever possible, at the end of each half term attendance will be reviewed and if a child's attendance is less that 90% or approaching 90% then dependent of circumstances, either a monitoring letter will be sent out, a meeting arranged or a referral made to the School Attendance panel (Inclusive of the Head Teacher, Administrator, Attendance Governor and the Class Teacher if appropriate.)
Punctuality
It is to be expected that very occasionally a child may be later for a genuine reason. The concern is about persistent late arrivals. Children begin the school day currently at 8.30am or 8:45 and valuable learning will be missed if a child is late. It can also cause great anxiety for the child.
If a child is late, then he/she must enter through the main entrance to the school office to inform the Administrator of his/her arrival so that the arrival time can be noted in the register.
Lateness will be monitored and if necessary a supportive meeting will be held.
Holiday Absence
The law does not grant parents an automatic right to take their child out of school during term time. The Department for Education allows a Head Teacher the discretion to consider authorising a leave of absence in term time only in “exceptional circumstances”.
Any absence from school will disrupt your child’s learning. .
You may consider that a holiday will be educational but your child will still miss out on the teaching that their peers will receive whilst your child is away. Children returning from a leave of absence during term time are also unprepared for the lessons which build on the teaching they have missed. Teachers then have to give more time to help individual children catch up on missed work. This poses a potential risk of the under achievement for your child and other students in the class. This is something we all have a responsibility to avoid.
You need to request a leave of absence by completing the form below of this notification. If the holiday is not considered to be an exceptional circumstance, and you nevertheless take your child out of school for the leave of absence this will be recorded as unauthorised leave.
All unauthorised absences, including holidays that have not been sanctioned by the headteacher, are accumulated and parents who fail to ensure regular attendance of their children at school can be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996. The amount is £60 (per parent per child) if paid within 21 days and £120 (per parent per child) if paid between 21 and 28 days. Failure to pay a Penalty Notice will result in prosecution, except in limited circumstances. All leave of absence requests must be completed on the attached form, letters will not be accepted. This should be returned to the school at least 7 days before the start of the holiday. All requests must be made prior to the leave being taken. Leave cannot be authorised retrospectively.
In considering the decision whether to authorise, the following will be taken into account:-
- Reasons given for the holiday;
- Any holiday leave taken in previous academic years (authorised or unauthorised)
- Your child’s previous attendance record; this includes attendance in the current academic year - which should be over 95% - as well as attendance in previous academic years.
- Whether your child will miss any tests/examinations (or important preparation for their tests)
- Whether your child is making good progress.
I hope you will support our efforts to raise attendance and attainment at our school.
Holiday request form here
