Attendance
At Langley Park Primary Academy, excellent attendance and punctuality is our aim for each and every pupil. Learning opportunities are maximised when good attendance is achieved and you, as parents and carers, play a vital role in promoting a good attitude towards attendance and punctuality. We therefore ask for your support in ensuring that your child is present at every opportunity and arrives at school on time. There is a high correlation between good attendance and successful academic achievement; regular and punctual school attendance helps a child to develop responsibility, self-discipline and fosters the skills necessary for the future.
The aim of this page of our newsletter is to promote the importance of attendance across the academy community and clearly communicate our academy-wide expectations and procedures relating to attendance and punctuality. It really is incredibly important that we continue to work together to do all we can to prioritise the children’s attendance at school in order that all pupils can enjoy their learning, maximise potential attainment and socialise with their peers, creating solid friendship groups and lifelong learners.
You can view the academy's Attendance and Punctuality Policy at any time as it is available on our website; please click here to go to the relevant webpage.
The overall attendance for last year was 93.29% and we are pleased to report that, now we have reached the end of the current academic year, whole-academy attendance stands at 94.70% which is a big improvement but we still have a way to go and this shows that we are right to continue to have a focus on attendance. We would very much like this figure to be above 95% which is the point at which we would first write to you as part of our 95ToThrive attendance scheme. More information about this approach can be found below.
We have seen some real attendance success stories for some pupils across the academy this year, as well as clear evidence of an increased understanding of our procedures and how to make small changes that have a big impact on a child's attainment and attitudes to learning. Thank you to all parents and carers who continue to work with us to do this.
Attendance as a whole, however, is consistently and adversely affected by those that continue to arrive late to school, take holidays and book routine medical appointments during term time. Please do take a look at the below statistics for this current academic year and consider the impact on a child's learning, friendships and life skills that these may have:
Incidences of absence as a result of medical appointments 505 sessions (an increase from 453 last year)
Incidences of absence as a result of term time holidays 527 days (an increase from 511 last year)
Incidences of lateness (authorised and unauthorised) 2195 occasions (an increase from 1049 last year)
Incidences of other unauthorised absences 508 days
Working Together
We will work with you to keep you updated on your child's attendance by making this information easily accessible via My Child at School where you are able to view attendance data at any time. We will also write to you at key points throughout the year, as part of our 95ToThrive scheme, to inform you of your child's attendance should it fall below 95%. We may also invite you into the academy to discuss any barriers to good attendance and explore ways in which we can work together to support your child’s attendance and punctuality.
As we reach the end of the academic year, we have issued the following certificates:
13 x '100%' certificates
147 x 'Excellent Attendance' certificates
19 x 'Improved Attendance' certificates
These were handed out in class today unobtrusively and, if your child received one of these certificates, they should feel very proud of their achievement.
Well done to all children who received a certificate!
Attendance and Punctuality for the 2022/23 academic year looks like this:
Good attendance is important because...
Statistics prove that pupils with good attendance have higher attainment in school.
Research shows that children with attendance about 96% make better progress socially and academically.
With the focus and development on the curriculum that takes place in lessons, children who are absent will naturally find gaps in their sequential knowledge.
For our youngest pupils, attendance and punctuality are even more important because core lessons, such as phonics, often take place early in the day and are therefore affected by both absence and lateness.
Please be aware that if your child is absent from school and no reason can be established for their absence then this will be recorded as unauthorised until such a time that your child returns to school. Please provide absence information to school office staff and not to class teachers, as they do not have time to share this with office staff before the school day begins.
If you call the school office and staff are unable to answer the phone at the time of your call then you should leave a message providing your child's full name, their class and the reason for their absence.
School starts promptly at 08.55. Please ensure that your child arrives to school on time and is in class and ready to learn.
If your child is absent, you have a duty to inform the school office on 01622 250880 by 09.15 each and every day that they are absent. If the school does not hear from you, office staff will attempt to contact you for a reason.