If your child’s attendance is below 93%, they would have already missed out on a significant amount of
learning time. 93% attendance a year is the same as nearly 3 weeks of missed learning.
There are many reasons why regular good attendance at school is vital. One of the most important reasons
is your child being able to achieve successful outcomes in school by fulfilling their potential. Here at
Highfield J.I School we put great emphasis on attendance and the government does too. Here are some
important reminders to ensure that your child’s attendance is the best that it can be:
Illness
In order to authorise absence you may be asked to provide medical evidence. Proof
can be a medical card/letter, prescription or a prescribed medicine. If your child is too
ill to come to school, please contact the school on the first day of absence to let us
know the reason why. Please call before 9am on 0121 647 1708 option 1. If we don’t
hear from you we will try to contact you. If, after a few days, we do not hear from you,
we will complete a home visit. Any unexplained absences will be unauthorised. Please be aware that
unauthorised absences can trigger the spotlight legal process. A copy of this process was sent to you in
September. If you have misplaced your copy there is one on the school website. Please familiarise yourself
with this.
Minor ailments
There are many minor ailments which children do not need to miss school for. If your
child has a cough or cold, headache or a tummy ache please give them some pain
relief and encourage them to come to school. We will always contact you should your
child get any worse. We can also administer prescribed medicine in school.
Medical appointments
Where possible, please make medical/dental appointments after school or during school
holidays. If you must take your child out during school time, we will need to see proof of the
appointment and your child will need to attend school before/after the appointment. We will also
not allow siblings to be taken at the same time; alternative arrangements will need to be made
for any siblings to be collected.
Punctuality
Please give your child a good start to their day and set up good habits of being on
time. School doors open at 8:45am; the bell goes at 8.55am. The gates are closed at
8.55am to ensure that all children in school are registered properly. Any child
arriving after this time will be classed as late. This year we are continuing to have a
push on improving attendance and punctuality. The vast majority of our children do
come to school every day and on time so well done to those children. They will be on track to win some
great prizes. When children arrive late, they miss out on lesson introductions and some teaching. They also
distract the rest of the class.
Don’t forget all the fabulous incentives we have in place for good attendance and punctuality
Weekly- attendance ticket
Every week, the class, in each key stage, with the best
attendance percentage (it has to be above 97%)and less than 4
lates wins the attendance ticket. The attendance ticket winners
will be entered into a prize draw where one child will get a
chance to win a prize. The winning class will have their names
put into a draw and the winner will receive a great prize. The
whole class will receive 10 minutes extra play to be taken when the teacher can fit it in that week. We will
also be introducing a bouncy castle for the winning class, however, this is not yet in place but watch this
space!!
Monthly – Highfield SUPER HEROES
Every Month the class with the best attendance percentage (it has to be
above 97%) and the least amount of lates in each key stage will get a
certificate and a mascot/trophy to keep in their class.
Termly
The class who has the best attendance and least lates for the term in each
key stage will win a certificate and all names will be put into a prize draw.
The winner will win a fabulous tablet!! In Reception there will be a
bubble machine
☺
Classes will also be collecting attendance and punctuality points. The class with the most points collected
will get a surprise treat.
End of year
At the end of the academic year all children who have 100% attendance will be entered into a
prize draw for a chance to win a flicker scooter. We have 3 scooters for the end of year! We
will also hold a celebratory party for all our 100% attenders!
The classes for each key stage who have achieved the most points and all children with 100%
will receive a fabulous trip or a party!!!
Brand new ½ term Incentive
Each day, when Miss Mitchell does her attendance checks, she will be giving
out postcards to the classes that have all their children in school. They will
display them in their classes until the end of the week. At the end of each
week, they will bring them to the attendance office and post them in the
attendance post box. At the end of each half term, the class with the most
postcards will win a wonderful treat!!!
I think you’ll agree these are all worth coming to school for!
Here to help
Sometimes there are underlying reasons why a child does not attend school
regularly. If at any time you require any help or are going through a difficult
time please come and talk to Miss Evans or a member of the Pastoral Team.
We are here to help and support you and can often find ways around any
problems you or your child may have. We aim to work in conjunction with
parents to break down all barriers to learning.