Castleton Primary School
Policy for: Attendance
Date: April 2016
To be reviewed: April 2017
Rationale
This policy is in place to ensure that there is a consistent approach to
attendance practices throughout Castleton Primary School and that they are
adhered to by staff, governors and volunteers.
Regular attendance is very important and without it the efforts of school and the
teachers will not be effective. Pupils need to attend regularly to take full advantage
of the educational opportunities open to them. Irregular attendance places children
at risk and can result in patterns of anti-social or criminal behaviour. Insistence
upon good attendance is an important part of our safeguarding work. Children’s
attendance in school is monitored on a daily basis and notable absences or patterns
of absences are followed up by the Family Support Worker and in more serious
cases, the Attendance Improvement and Safeguarding Officer. We pride ourselves
on our improving attendance figures.
Aims
 To see maximizing attendance rates as a key task
 To actively pursue the goal of regular attendance both in relation to individual
pupils and for the school as a whole
 To ensure parents are fully aware of their legal responsibilities
Objectives
For parents to support attendance by:

ensuring their children attend school regularly

contacting school on the first day of absence when their child is unable to
attend school

ensuring their child/ren arrives punctually, properly attired, emotionally able
to learn

contacting school at once, when any problem occurs that may keep their child
away from school

to book holidays outside term time
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For pupils to:

attend school regularly

arrive with all they need for the school day
For school to:

ensure regular, efficient and accurate recording of attendance and
punctuality

make first day contact with parents/carers when a child is absent

follow up children where a regular pattern of absence or an unusually large
number of absences occurs to establish and rectify the cause
 To support parents and children with attendance issues, regardless of gender
(including sexual orientation), race, ability and religious belief.
Procedures to encourage attendance
 Accurate completion of attendance registers marked before the beginning of
the morning and afternoon sessions
 Prompt follow up of any unexplained absence or lateness
 Rewards
 Class
i. a trophy awarded to the class in KS1 and KS2 with the top attendance
each week presented in Assembly
ii. class name displayed on an attendance board
iii. reward trip (bowling, cinema etc) for the class with the highest
attendance in the half term
 Individual
i. a certificate/letter home for each individual child who has 100%
attendance for a term
ii. a certificate and badge for 100% attendance all year
iii. inclusion in the newsletter

Attendance and punctuality information always form part of meetings for
parents and governors.
Procedures for responding to information about absence
 If a call is taken in the office a message will be sent to the class teacher and if
appropriate to the inclusion team. Similarly letters, ‘phone calls or personal
messages given to the class teacher should be filed and dealt with in the same
way.
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Procedures for responding to poor attendance or unpunctuality
 First day of absence phone calls are made by the Office staff/family support
worker.
 If there is no response to contact attempts then the family support worker will
follow up.
 Family support worker/Co Head teacher will meet regularly with the Attendance
Improvement Officer and work with him/her to follow up irregular attendance.
 In the case of intermittent absence/attendance below 85%, parents/carers will
be contacted and asked to come and discuss the matter. If this does not result
in an improvement the AIO will be informed.
 Similarly in the case of frequent lateness.
 Registers will be read daily.
 The absence report will be in registers on Monday morning to be completed by
Tuesday.
 Class teachers to refer any concerns about a child’s attendance to the family
support worker.
 To continue to communicate to children and parents the importance of
punctuality and regular attendance.
Responsibilities
Co Headteachers
 To oversee the policy
 To ensure attendance information is part of a report to Governors
 To ensure that attendance and punctuality maintain a high profile in the school
Office staff/Family Support worker
 To monitor attendance and punctuality on a weekly basis and report to the
Head, half termly or sooner if the need arises
 To ensure that attendance and punctuality maintain a high profile in the school
 To manage the work of the Family Support Workers to support attendance and
punctuality
 To liaise with administrative staff
 To liaise with AIO
 To send half termly, and annual attendance returns to Ed. Leeds
 To produce letters when necessary
Class Teachers
 To complete computerized registration forms accurately twice a day
 To note any letters, message from the office or verbal messages from
parents/carers in the “Messages “ section of the class registers
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



To enter any explained absence on the absence form using the correct codes by
Thursday of each week
To ensure that any children arriving after the register is closed (i.e. 9.10am)
inform the school office of their arrival
To refer any children with repeated unauthorized absence or lateness to the
Inclusion Team/Family Support Worker on the form provided giving information
regarding the nature of the concern and length of time
To promote and highlight good attendance
Administrative Staff
 To ensure registers are in classes by agreed times
 To pass on any messages re. absence or late arrival to the relevant class teacher
 To read the registers weekly
 To liaise with the Family Support Worker if necessary over concerns
 To publish weekly attendance data to LEA
 To publish termly attendance data to the Targeted Services Leader for the
Cluster
Governors
 To regularly review attendance information at meetings
 To publish attendance statistics as required by government regulations
Attendance Improvement Officer
 To support the school in carrying out it’s agreed procedures
 To liaise with the Learning Mentor
Holidays
The school holiday dates are published a year in advance and we expect
parents/carers to book their family holidays during the school holidays. If a family
event in term time is unavoidable, a request for absence form must be completed
prior to the holiday. This can be obtained from the school, office. The Headteacher
will then decide whether or not to authorise the absences. The Headteacher, on
behalf of the Governors, can grant leave, at her discretion, for up to five working
days in any school year. No parents/carers can demand leave of absence for their
child/children as a right.
The Headteacher will only authorise leave in truly exceptional circumstances.
Holiday absence will not be granted when the following circumstances apply:

When attendance is already a concern
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

The holiday requested is at a transition point e.g. starting full time school in
Reception, September
During Standard Attainment Tests (Year 2 and 6)
In addition, parents should appreciate that attendance during the month of May is
a particular priority, since this is when the formal Attainment Tests and
Assessments are carried out throughout school.
Signed (Chair of Governors)_______________________________________
Signed (Headteacher) __________________________________________
Date________________________________________________________
Appendix
Definition of Absence
Authorized Absence includes: illness
 medical and dental appointments
 religious observance
 family bereavement
 family holiday
 special occasions e.g. a wedding. It would be for school to determine whether or
not an absence should be authorized for this reason and it would need to be
exceptional circumstances
Where attendance drops below 85%, absence would not be authorized, even after
contact with parents, except in exceptional circumstances (e.g. the provision of a
doctor’s letter.) When children have poor attendance advice is sought from the
school’s AIO.
Lateness
 pupils who are not present when the register is taken should be marked absent
 registers close at 9.00am
 a child arriving after the register has been taken but before 9.30am is marked
both absent and present
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

a child arriving after 9.30am is marked with” late after registration” and
should be marked with the appropriate code on the absence return
staff must use their discretion about reasons for lateness but there should be
consistency where children of the same family are concerned
The policy and procedures will be reviewed 3 yearly, unless circumstances require
it.
Links with other policies/documents
Home/school Policy
School Prospectus
Vision Statement
PSHCE Policy
Safeguarding Children and Young People
Child Protection Policy
Behaviour Policy
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