Attendance

James Elliman Attendance Information

This is a successful school and parents/carers, and their children, play their part in making it so. We aim for an environment which enables and encourages all members of the community to reach out for excellence. Promoting strong attendance forms part of our Golden Rules for all children at JEA. For our children to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attend regularly and your child should be at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.

It is very important therefore that you make sure that your child attends regularly and this policy sets out how together we will achieve this.

Why Regular Attendance is so important

Any absence affects the pattern of a child’s schooling and regular absence will seriously affect their learning. Any pupil’s absence disrupts teaching routines so may affect the learning of others in the same class.

Ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school is your legal responsibility and permitting absence from school without a good reason creates an offence in law and may result in prosecution.

Promoting Regular Attendance:
Helping to create a pattern of regular attendance is everybody’s responsibility - parents, pupils and all members of school staff. To help us all to focus on this we will: 

    Give you details on attendance in our monthly newsletter; 
    Report to you regularly on how your child is performing in school, what their attendance and punctuality rate is and how this relates to their attainment 
    Celebrate good attendance by displaying individual and class achievements
    Reward good or improving attendance through class rewards and certificates 

Where absence is causing the school concerns, parents will be informed in writing and in some cases asked to attend a meeting with the school’s Attendance Officer and the school Principal.
 

• Children should arrive at school no later than 8.45am. We expect students to be on time to encourage a calm and responsive start to lessons.
• We wish for every pupil to aim for 100% attendance. There is a direct correlation between high attendance and high academic attainment.
• Children are required by law to attend school 190 days per year. The Government states that every pupil's attendance should be at least 96%. For pupils and parents this can be translated into the following missed learning time.
• Pupils who have good attendance often make friends quicker and sustain friendships well.
• To report your child's absence please call the school office  on 01753 810686 option 1 or email: jeaattendance@theparkfederation.org. When reporting your child's absence please state full name/class and reason for absence.

We are committed to meeting our obligation with regards to school attendance through our whole-school culture and ethos that values good attendance, including:
    Promoting good attendance 
    Reducing absence, including persistent and severe absence
    Ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled
    Acting early to address patterns of absence
    Building strong relationships with families to ensure pupils have the support in place to attend school
    We will also promote and support punctuality in attending lessons
 

Why is attendance so important?

Pupils who fall as low as 90% attendance will miss almost 4 weeks of school every year. This is over 100 hours of learning.
If you need help getting your child to school, please ask us, we are happy to help and in some cases if needed collect your child.

 

Evidence shows that if a child does not attend regularly:

• They cannot keep up with their class work.
• They do not achieve the results they need
• They miss out on the social side of school and can have problems maintaining friendships.

Persistent Absenteeism (PA):

A pupil is defined by the Department of Education (DfE) as being a persistent absentee, or a child missing education, is any pupil who has missed 19 days (38 sessions) across the school year for whatever reason. The Attendance Services at the Local Authority (Slough Borough Council) monitor pupils that are on track to become a PA by the number of sessions (2 sessions = 1 day), the following guidelines are used to help schools identify these pupils at the end of each half term. 

Identification at the end of each half     Number of sessions of absence, at the term end of the half term, to be on track for persistent absenteeism
Term 1    7 sessions
Term 2    14 sessions
Term 3    20 sessions
Term 4    25 sessions
Term 5    32 sessions
Term 6    38 sessions

Therefore, a child is a persistent absentee as defined by the DfE once they have reached 38 sessions of absence, irrespective of which part of the year we are in at the time, and for whatever reason. 

For example, if a child has had a block of illness during half term 1 for 20 days, they would have been absent for 40 sessions which make them a persistent absentee in half term 1 and therefore they will remain a PA for the rest of the academic year. 

We monitor all absence thoroughly. Any case that is seen to have reached the PA mark or is at risk of moving towards that mark is given priority and parents will be informed of this immediately. Absence at this level is doing considerable damage to any child’s educational prospects and the school needs parent’s fullest support and cooperation to tackle this.

All attendance is discussed weekly.  If attendance does not improve, JEA will follow the protocol for PA. (Appendix 1)
 

My child has 90% attendance, that is good isn’t it?

• No, in relation to the amount of days absent over a year it would equal 19 days absence, nearly four weeks off school.

My child has odd days off now and again, surely they are not going to miss too much?

• These odd days can surprisingly add up and during this time they could be missing out on crucial learning.

My child is only absent when she is ill.

• If your child is ill you need to contact school to let them know. If your child is persistently absent due to illness we may request medical confirmation e.g. Doctor’s certificate.

What difference does it make if my child is a few minutes late?

• Arriving late causes disruption and can be embarrassing for the child. e.g. Walking into class when everyone is working.
• By arriving late they can miss the initial teacher input which would make it difficult for them to understand the lesson.

I would like to book a holiday in term time, am I entitled to 5 days holiday?

• No. Holidays will not be authorised during term time
• Please don’t let your child miss out on the education they deserve. 

Tips for good attendance

• Make sure school uniforms and bags/lunches/homework are ready the night before to avoid panic/ lateness in the mornings.
• Find out who else lives nearby, so if you or one of your children are unwell they may be able to travel to school with another family.
• As far as possible, make all doctors, dentists or other appointments for after school or at the week-end so as not to affect their attendance. An absence for an appointment is still an absence.
• Think carefully about whether your child is really too ill to attend school. If you are unsure, let the school make the decision - bring your child to school and if they are unwell the school will contact you to collect them.

If you are worried your child does not want to attend school talk to them and the school to check there is nothing else going on or any issues that can be resolved.

Absence due to illness? How long does my child stay at home for?

 

We want to make every lesson count, please help us to do just that by aiming for a high percentage for attendance.