Attendance
Good attendance + punctuality = Success
Success in school begins with showing up. Your attendance shapes your academic journey.
Please ensure that your child attends school regularly and ring us to let us know if they are going to be absent on 01924 311361.
Holidays during term time will not be authorised. This is in line with Kirklees policy.
Why is attendance so important?
Why is it so important to attend every day?
- Each day’s learning builds upon those of the previous day and lessons are sequenced as a learning journey. If children do not have good attendance they will miss chunks of learning and this may make them feel anxious in class as they will not be able to keep up with their friends
- If children do not have good attendance they will find it difficult to make and maintain friendships, this will make them feel lonely and worried about coming to school
Are there other benefits to my child?
- Pupils with good attendance records generally achieve higher grades and enjoy school more.
- Having a good education will help to give your child the best possible start in life.
- Regular school attendance patterns encourage the development of other responsible patterns of behaviour, useful life skills and resilience.
- There are a whole host of incentives and rewards in place for children with good attendance.
How can parents help?
- Parents must model the value of education, including the high importance of attendance.
- Make sure that your child comes to school regularly and arrives on time. This will help establish a good habit, which they will continue throughout their life.
- If your child starts missing school, work with the school to put things right. Make sure your child understands that you do not approve of him/her missing school.
- If your child is ill or must miss school for some other reason, contact school immediately.
- Do not expect school to approve of shopping trips, birthday treats etc. during school hours. Arrange family holidays so that your child will not miss any learning.
- Take an interest in your child’s school work and be involved in the school as much as possible-your child will value school more if you do.
- Arrange medical and dental appointments outside of school hours where possible.
How can we help you?
Our Attendance Team are available to support families with attendance. Should your child become ill and be unable to attend school, please telephone the academy as soon as possible.
We carefully monitor the attendance of all children, we do this so we can identify early any problems that children and families may have in attending school.
We will contact families to build relationships so we can work together to help you and your child. You may receive phone calls and letters inviting you into school so we can find out how you and your child feel about school and put any measures in place that support you. We understand that attending meetings in school may be daunting for families, please be reassured that we are here to help and listen to your individual family circumstances.
Attendance Information
The school gates open every morning at 8.40am and close at 8.50am. There are staff at the gates and doors to welcome children into school and talk to you about anything you are concerned about each day. There is also a free Breakfast Club that opens at 8.15am every morning. If you would like a place for your child please ask at the Main Office.
Children arriving after 8.50am will sign in at the Main office. The registers close at 9.00am. Any child arriving after this time will be marked late on the register. Between 8.40am and 9.00am there are morning learning activities including basic skills in Reading and Maths. If children are on time they will benefit from these activities.
If your child is going to be absent please call the Main Office (01924 311361) by 9.00am on each day of absence, if the phone lines are busy you can leave a voice message and the office staff will call you back). The office staff will ask you politely a few questions to establish the reasons for your child’s absence and ascertain when they may be well enough to attend.
If we do not have any information about why your child is absent we will complete a home visit to ensure that you and your child are safe, this is our safeguarding duty. We will also complete home visits if we have not seen your child 2 days.
Our aim is to build positive relationships with families to encourage attendance. There is a clear strategy of escalation if our attempts to engage families are not successful, these can be read in the attached Attendance Policy.
Our Attendance Incentives
Our attendance target is 96% this year!
Well done to everyone with 100% attendance this year.
Termly and annual certificates will be given out in Attendance Assembly at the end of term.
