Attendance and Absences
On this page you will find all the information you need regarding attendance, illnesses, and holiday requests.
At Southbroom Infants, attendance is incredibly important to us as having good educational attendance will help to give your child the best possible start in life. Regular school attendance patterns encourage the development of other responsible patterns of behaviour.
Every moment in school counts and days missed add up quickly. Evidence shows that pupils who have good attendance enjoy better wellbeing and school performance than those who don't. It is vital that both school and parents/carers work together to ensure consistently good attendance for all children.
For all absence and holiday requests, please complete the below form and return it to the school office.
Reporting your Child’s Absence
It is the parents/carers responsibility to inform the school if their child is unable to attend school, this should be done by 8:30am on each day of absence. Your child’s absence can be reported by calling the Main School Office on 01380 723184. If no answer via phone call, please leave a voicemail.
If we do not receive a phone call/voicemail for you, you will be contacted by the office to find out why your child is not at school. If we cannot get in contact with you, we will phone the other contacts we have for your child on our system. Again, if we cannot get a hold of them, your child will be marked down as unauthorised.
Southbroom Infant School’s Expectations:
Children should be in school every day by 8:50am. Our school gates open at 8.45am.
Children should be collected from the classroom doors at 3pm where they will be dismissed by a member of staff.
Please ensure that you communicate reasons for absence to school by 8:30am on the morning of each day of absence.
School attendance that drops below 96% is considered a cause for concern (96% equates to 8 missed days across a whole school year). If your child’s attendance is below 96%, you will receive a notification of your child’s attendance, this will be in the form of a letter. If this does not improve, there is a graduated response which could result in legal action.
To help, please try to make medical appointments (where possible) outside of the school day, take holidays out of school term time, and communicate any reasons for absence clearly with school staff.
Excellent attendance at school is important to allow a child to fulfil their potential.
Attendance
Please see information from the Department for Education;
There are only a few circumstances where a child is allowed to miss school such as illness or where the school has given permission because of an exceptional circumstance.
However, if your child misses school without a good reason, local councils and schools can intervene and you may be issued a fine. It’s important to acknowledge that children with long-term medical or more serious mental health conditions, and some children may face additional barriers.
In the majority of cases, schools and local authorities will try and provide support to help you improve your child’s attendance first, but if this isn’t effective or the absence is for unauthorised term time holiday, parents may face paying a fine.
Currently, it’s the responsibility of the local authority to decide when to issue fines to parents, meaning the process varies from council to council. However, under the new national framework, all schools will be required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons.
“From August 2024, the fine for school absences across the country will be £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. In the case of repeated fines, if a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160. Fines per parent will be capped to two fines within any three-year period. Once this limit has been reached, other action like a parenting order or prosecution will be considered. Fines are a last resort, and parents will be offered support to help improve their child’s attendance first. The vast majority of fines for unauthorised absence are issued for term time holidays.”
Your child must attend every day that the school is open, unless:
- Your child is too ill to attend that day. Please find supporting guidance here; https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school
- You have asked in advance and been given permission by the school for your child to be absent on that day due to exceptional circumstances.
- Your child cannot attend school on that day because it is a day you are taking part in religious observance.
- You are a gypsy/traveller family with no fixed abode, and you are required to travel for work that day meaning your child cannot attend their usual school.
If your child is absent and you haven’t received advance permission from the headteacher to take your child out of school, the school and local council may take action. Before that, your child’s school and your local council are expected to support you to improve the child’s attendance before any measures are put in place. For most pupils, the best place to be during term-time in is school, surrounded by the support of their friends and teachers.
Attendance and Percentage
At Southbroom Infant School, 97% and above attendance is classed as “Good”, and 100% attendance is classed as “Excellent”. Anything below 96% is deemed “Requires Improvement”.
The table below shows the attendance percentage and the number of days missed.
|
Attendance % |
No. of days missed |
|
100% |
0 days |
|
99% |
1 day |
|
98% |
3 days |
|
97% |
1 week |
|
96% |
1.5 weeks |
|
94% |
2 weeks |
|
93% |
2.5 weeks |
|
92% |
3 weeks |
|
90% |
3.5 weeks |