Attendance

At St Winefride’s Catholic Academy we seek to work in partnership with parents to ensure that each child’s experience is one that will enable them to make good progress by building on their skills and talents within a continuous and consistent learning environment. If together we are to achieve this aim, regular attendance at school is vital and full parental support and co-operation in this matter is necessary.

Why is it important for children not to miss school?

Children only get one chance at school. If they do not attend school regularly they may not be able to keep up with their school work or could miss whole sections of the curriculum.

Pupils whose attendance is good:

• Understand lessons better
• Achieve better results
• Sustain friendships
• Have good self-esteem, are positive and confident
• Get better jobs in the future

Pupils whose attendance is unsatisfactory below 90%:

• Don’t understand lessons so well
• Get behind with their work
• Find it difficult to maintain friendship groups
• Have low self-esteem and confidence
• Achieve less

What does good attendance mean at St Winefride’s?

• 100% attendance – when a pupil arrives on time and attends every lesson every day
• At our schools we expect all pupils to achieve 95% or above as a minimum.

What does unsatisfactory attendance mean?

• Less than 96% attendance. This will have a serious effect on learning.
• One half day’s absence every week will give 90% attendance – actions will be set with School. 
• Continual lateness
• Research suggests that over 10 days missed from school often equates to one level lower in academic attainment. This has a huge effect on future learning and attainment.

What happens if my child is absent?

If no phone call is received by 9.30am, contact will be made to parents/ carers by telephone or text message to find out why the child is not in school, and a record will be kept that this phone call has been made. If the parent/ carer’s telephone numbers are unavailable, a letter will be sent to the home address.

If no response is forthcoming after 3 days, a representative from the school or Catholic care will visit the home.

If by the second week the child has not been seen and parent/s carers have not made contact either, the school will contact the Education Welfare office to alert them that they have a child missing from school.

What happens if my child is persistently late or absent from school?

Children are expected to be in school for registration time. Any child arriving after this time, should enter the school via the Main Reception and if accompanied, should give a reason for the lateness, this will be recorded in the register as present but late.

Pupils who are consistently late are disrupting not only their own education but also that of others.

Where there is cause for concern, letters will be sent to the parents/ carers of the child to alert them to the concern. If attendance does not improve, an appointment for the parents/carers to meet the teacher or phase leader will be sent. At this meeting a parenting contract will be completed, and a target set for improved attendance.

The regulations allow Head Teachers to sanction absence in “exceptional circumstances”. Please find below a list of allowable absences and those which will now be classed as unauthorised absences. The list is not exhaustive:

Allowed absence

• Sickness with medical evidence after 3 days.
• Emergency medical appointments - This has to come sight to SLT
• Day/s for specific religious observance
• School is closed due to unforeseen circumstances.

The following list shows allowed absence in exceptional circumstances (these may be authorised at the discretion of the Head Teacher)

Bereavement

• Compassionate grounds
• Examinations off site
• Attendance at an event at the request of a public organisation

Absences not allowed under any circumstances

• Family holidays, no matter what length
• Days out

We believe that the majority of our parents realise that ‘every lesson count’s and encourage regular attendance at school. We have high expectations of our children. You have high expectations of us. These expectations cannot be met if your child is absent.