Attendance

Punctuality

Children are greeted on the yard or at the classroom door by the class teacher at 8.40 am. The school day starts at 8.45 am and all pupils enter school at this time. Registers close at 9 am. Pupils arriving after 9 am are considered late. 

Inclusion Lead

St Helen's Primary Academy has an inclusion Lead, Kelly Leishman, Kelly will monitor attendance, do home visits, manage attendance meetings and make referrals to the Education Welfare Service but more importantly, support families to understand the importance of attending school.

Research has shown that regular attendance and good punctuality are crucial factors in students achieving their full potential in education. At St Helen's Primary Academy we wish to work in partnership with parents and carers and so are seeking your full support in ensuring that your child attends school every day and on time. We are always pleased to work together with parents/carers in resolving any difficulties but we are also committed to improving attendance levels at school. The target attendance figure for all pupils is a minimum of 97% attendance. Based on current attendance figures your child will be placed in one of the following groups below.

Each week your child will be informed of their Attendance Group by their class teacher.  St Helen's Primary Academy are monitoring students closely whose attendance is falling and will contact you if your child’s attendance does not improve. As a parent/carer, you are committing an offence if you fail to ensure that your child attends school regularly and punctually, even if they are missing school without your knowledge. It is important that parents/carers monitor even single-day absences, as these days soon add up to weeks. At St Helen's Primary Academy, we reward pupils who attend school each day and whose attendance is improving. Students are also rewarded for good punctuality. The rewards are as follows: 

Weekly: The weekly treat box will continue this year! All children that come to school for the full week and are on time will be entered into a draw and the winner will receive the treat box in Friday's assembly.  The class with the best attendance for the week will be awarded the attendance trophy.

Half Termly - All children with attendance above 97% will receive a small goody bag to take home with them on the last day of term.

Termly - Children with 100% attendance for the term (Autumn, Spring, Summer) will have the chance to collect this year's attendance badges. 

Yearly - All children with 100% attendance for the full academic year will be entered into a draw to win a mega treat box! All other children will receive a small goody bag to take home with them on the last day of term.

If you are concerned about this new ‘Focus on Attendance’, there are important steps that you can take:

• Ensure your child attends every day, on time, equipped and ready to learn. Lesson time begins at 8.45 am and doors open at 8:40 am. Students arriving after 9 am may be marked absent and will require an explanatory note or the absence will remain unauthorised.

• Ensure that the Academy has up-to-date addresses and telephone numbers. We will contact you if your child is absent and you have not contacted the Academy. This ensures that the absence is quickly identified.

• If your child is ill, contact the Academy on the first day of absence and provide an explanatory note on their return to school.

• If you wish to check that your child has arrived at school, please contact the school office, who will inform you if your child has been registered. 

• If no contact is received regarding the absence, it is recorded as unauthorised. Ultimately the Academy is responsible for deciding if the absence is acceptable or not. Only genuine absences will be authorised. You will be asked to provide medical evidence if your child has a poor attendance record.

•  Ensure that medical appointments are made outside of school time. Avoid trivial absences such as, ‘buying new shoes’. This would not be accepted as a reasonable absence.

• All holidays are unauthorised unless there are exceptional circumstances. This is in line with government legislation. You may be subject to a fine when taking children out of school during term time. Please try to book holidays during the allocated school holidays.  

• Respond to letters or telephone calls regarding attendance and punctuality.

• Contact your child’s class teacher if you are experiencing difficulty in getting your child into school.

Thank you for working in partnership with us to achieve the highest possible levels of attendance and punctuality at St Helen's Primary Academy.