Attendance

Did you know?

If your child is absent for 1 week during an academic year they would miss about 5 hours of maths, 5 hours of English, 5 hours of reading, 1.5 hours of spelling/grammar, 2 hours of PE plus 6.5 hours of art, science, RE, music, history, geography, DT, computing, PSHE or French.


Best Chance of Success!

100% = 0 days = 0 hours of learning lost

95% attendance = 9.5days absent = 47.5hrs learning lost

90% attendance = 19days absent = 95hrs learning lost

85% attendance = 28.5days absent = 142.5hrs learning lost

 

 How can you support good attendance?

Being at school is a very important part of any child’s life. It enables them to learn, to make friends, to gain important knowledge and to develop a variety of skills which will prepare them for adult life.

School and parents/carers are partners in making this a success.

As parents/carers it is your legal responsibility to make sure that your child makes the most of this opportunity by attending school regularly.

· Please do not take your child out of school for a holiday.

· Please do not make non-urgent medical appointments during the school day.

· Telephone the school before 9am on each day of absence.

· Make sure we have your up to date   contact details. We will ring you if we have not had notice of the absence.

· Provide the school with a written reason for the absence.

 

How we support good attendance:

· We reward House teams weekly on the best attendance.

· We display the attendance winners on our ‘attendance tree’.

· We publish attendance winners on our weekly newsletter.

· We reward pupils with 100% attendance at the end of each term.

· We provide guidance from the NHS on childhood illnesses (see website).

· We keep parents informed at termly consultations and on end of year reports of attendance late figures.

· We monitor attendance carefully and will contact you if your child’s attendance drops below 95%.

· If attendance problems continue we will ask you to meet with use to discuss and agree ways forward.

· If a number of absences are unauthorised, such as holidays, you will be referred for a penalty notice and may be given a fine.

· If attendance problems persist we will refer your child to an Education Welfare Officer. This may lead to prosecution.

 

What should I do if my child is absent?

By law, schools must record absences and the reasons given. You are therefore requested to contact school immediately about your child’s absence. 

You can download the handy app "Studybugs" on the Play Store or App Store for free. This app allows you to report your children's absences in seconds. 

Studybugs guides you with official guidance from the UK Health Security Agency, based on the symptoms you enter.  

Attendance is your legal responsibility.

Only schools can authorise absence.

If you need support and advice about attendance or punctuality issues, please contact the school and ask to speak to Mrs Sheridan, our Attendance Officer.

Tel: 01702 218961

Email: admin@barlingmagna.essex.sch.uk


How does absence affect children?

* If I’m not in school I will miss out on my learning and I won’t achieve my targets.

* I find it really difficult to catch up on lessons.

* If I’m not in school I can’t play with my friends, they will miss me.

* I won’t feel prepared for Secondary School.

* I want to be in school so I can be the best I can be!

How does punctuality affect children?

· When your child is late to school he/she misses the teacher’s instructions and the induction to the lesson.

· They may also feel embarrassed at having to enter the classroom late.

· They miss the settling down time which prepares the children for the day’s learning.

 

Minutes late per day across the school year = Days worth of learning lost in a year

5 mins = 3.4 days

10 mins = 6.9 days

15 mins = 10.3 days

20 mins = 13.8 days

30 mins = 20.7 days

How can you help?

Ensure your child arrives at school before 8:45am.

Prepare packed lunches, school bags and breakfast items the night before.

Make sure the alarm clock is set at a reasonable time for getting everyone up and ready!

 

The night before:

 

In the morning:- Get up