A Policy Document
School Attendance
Carcroft Primary School
Introduction
 This document is a statement of the aims, principles and strategies for maintaining and
improving attendance at Carcroft Primary School and was developed through a process of
consultation with the relevant professionals.
 It was approved by Senior Management on 8.5.14
 It was approved by the Governing Body on
 The policy will be reviewed annually.
Attendance Coordinator: Emily Clark – Acting Headteacher
Name
Emily Clark
Role
Acting Headteacher
Laura Godley
Teacher
Michelle Wilcox
Office Manager
Jack Parks
Governor
Judith Foulds
EWO
School Attendance Policy
Carcroft Primary School
Responsibility
To monitor the attendance
throughout school.
To raise the attendance
situation of those children
identified as being at risk.
To increase school attendance
to 95.5%.
The welfare of children in
school.
To raise attendance
throughout school.
To celebrate good attendance
for individuals and classes.
To maintain attendance
records.
To monitor the attendance
situation of individual children,
classes and school as a whole.
To liaise with the EWO and
Headteacher.
To keep a check on attendance
in general.
To support the school in
achieving its objectives by
following LA Guidelines.
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Attendance Statement
Good attendance is essential if pupils are to take full advantage of school and gain the
appropriate skills, which will equip them for life. It is important to ensure that our most
vulnerable pupils are given the same opportunities, which may mean extra support in certain
cases.
The school aims to achieve good attendance, 95.5%+, by operating an attendance policy with
which all stakeholders can work in partnership. The school will monitor attendance and ensure
quick and early intervention if an attendance issue is identified.
All staff will encourage good attendance and it will be seen as an achievement in its own right and
recognised as such by the school. The attendance policy is based on the premise of equal
opportunities and inclusive practice.
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Carcroft Primary School
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Aims
 To improve the quality of school life
 To create a culture in which good attendance is ‘normality’
 To demonstrate to all stakeholders that the school values good attendance and to recognise
that good attendance is an achievement in itself
 To be consistent in implementation, both in terms of rewards and consequences
 To value the individual and be socially and educationally inclusive
Objectives
 To involve the children more in their school attendance
 To improve communication with parents/carers about regular school attendance
 All school staff to continue to take responsibility for children’s attendance
 To ensure systems and procedures are in place to improve attendance of individuals and in
general
 Effective working relationship with Behaviour and Attendance Services, and the reporting of
half-termly figures to the service
Targets
 To collect and monitor attendance information effectively
 To discuss and set appropriate challenging attendance targets with the EWO
 To ensure data and information is available and utilised effectively to support the
improvement of attendance
 To set specific targets for individuals, groups, years and whole school in a context of all
known relevant factors
 To target resources and implement where most appropriate
 To keep parents/carers, pupils and governors informed of policy, practice and outcomes
School Attendance Policy
Carcroft Primary School
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Procedures
Communication
Parents/Carers will be advised of our policy on attendance:
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School Induction Pack
Home School Agreement
Newsletter
Parents Evenings
Annual School Report
Attendance booklet for parents
Children will be advised of our policy on attendance:

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Home School Agreement
Weekly Attendance Assembly
Through relevant areas of the curriculum
General classroom management
Annual School Report
Expectations
 Children are expected to attend school for the full 190 days of the academic year, unless
there is good reason for absence. There are two types of absence:
 Authorised (where school approves the absence)
 Unauthorised (where the school will not approve the absence)
 Absence of 95%+ is deemed as good
 It is expected that parents/carers will provide an explanation if their child is absent on the
first day the absence occurs. This can be by letter, telephone, personally or by appointment
 If contact, explaining the child’s absence, fails to be made by parents/carers, then the school
will make contact by telephone on the initial day, following this by a letter after 5 days of
unexplained absence and this contact is recorded in SIMS
 Children with good attendance will be rewarded by our school:
Weekly
 Class Attendance Trophy in KS2 for the class with the highest attendance
 Class Attendance Bear (‘SAM’ – School Attendance Matters) in EYFS/KS1 for the class
with the highest attendance
 A leaf for the attendance tree display outside the office in relevant class colour for
each class that achieves the 97% or more over the week. Two leaves in the class colour if 100% is
achieved.
Half termly
 Cinema Club for children with 100% attendance on the last Friday of each half term
where children will receive juice and popcorn. This will be funded by Friends of Carcroft.
Annually
 Children with an attendance of 100% for the whole year will receive a certificate that
will be presented in a whole school celebration assembly
 Parents with children who have good attendance will be rewarded by our school during
attendance challenges which will take place twice a year. A block of four weeks will be
School Attendance Policy
Carcroft Primary School
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the challenge period where children and parents can aim to get 100% attendance in that
period.

Names of children with 100% for the challenge period will go into a draw to win a prize
for parents which may be shopping vouchers for the local supermarket a family night in hamper
consisting of board games, a DVD, popcorn etc…
Completion of Registers
 The twice daily requirement to register pupils is taken as an opportunity to greet and welcome
children
 The twice daily routine and accurate marking of registers is a requirement of teaching staff
 Correct procedures for marking the register must be followed
 Marked in ink without use of corrective fluid (whilst we are using paper registers)
 Marked using correct symbols
• In the new academic year (2014/15) a SIMS register will be used by all staff to mark their
registers
Lateness
 School begins at 08:25 and all pupils are expected to be in school for registration at this
time.
 Lateness is recorded and monitored:
 Lateness before close of register 08:30-09:00 - Late (L)
 Lateness after closure of register 09:00 onwards – Unauthorised Absence (U)
 Persistent lateness is a cause for concern and further action is taken
 Lateness after closure of register is dealt with identical procedures to unauthorised absence
Holidays in Term Time
Carcroft Primary School are not permitted to and will not authorise leave of absence during
term time except for exceptional circumstances. Government regulations remove a
Headteacher’s right to authorise leave of absence during term time and make direct
reference to holiday.
Exceptional circumstances may include such occasions as family bereavement or
parental leave from the Armed Forces. The exceptional circumstances must be made clear on
the Leave of Absence form which must be approved in advance for the absence to be
authorised. A Leave of Absence form is available from the school office and
must be completed before any absence from school, for any reason other than illness.
Unauthorised leave of absence will lead to a fixed penalty of £60 per parent of the child.
If a child has an unauthorised leave of absence, that has been requested prior to the absence,
but an attendance of over 95% for the previous year and the year so far, the school will waive
the fixed penalty. The Headteacher will contact the parent/carer to discuss this.
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Carcroft Primary School
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Identification and Actions
General Absence
 Class and school attendance monitored weekly
 Individual children’s attendance is evaluated and entered onto termly reports
 Attendance is a key feature at parents’ evenings
 All children whose attendance fall below 90% (1st half term) and below 95% (2nd half term
onwards) are highlighted monthly by the School Office Manager and relevant actions taken:
 Percentage Attendance Letter 1 issued to parents/carers of all children with attendance
<90% (1st Term) and <95% (2nd Term onwards) unless they have had an authorised
holiday or a single period of authorised illness or other exceptional circumstance.
 If attendance does not improve three weeks after letter 1 has been sent, parents will
receive a phone call from the headteacher to ask for reasons why and provide appropriate
support if needed
 Percentage Attendance Letter 2 issued to parents/carers of any children whose
attendance has shown no improvement three weeks after the phone call home
 After letter 2 has been issued, if there is no improvement, parents will be expected to
attend an action planning meeting with a member of the senior leadership team to look at
ways to improve attendance
 Involvement of EWO if attendance does then fail to improve and all future
absences recorded as unauthorised
Lateness Before Register Closes
 Lateness is monitored and recorded by Class Teachers and Admin Staff, highlighted every
three weeks by the School Office Manager and the following actions taken:
 Lateness Letter 1 issued to parents/carers of all children who have four late marks
before register closes in a four week period
 Phone call to parent/carer from Headteacher should lateness persist after Lateness
Letter 1
 Lateness Letter 2 issued to parents/carer of all children who have four late marks
before register closes in a four week period after receiving the phone call from the
Headteacher

Any parent/child that arrives late will receive a leaflet regarding lateness on the first
instance

If required, parents/carers will be expected to attend an action planning meeting with a
member of the senior leadership team to look at ways to reduce lateness
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Carcroft Primary School
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