Attendance

Attendance Rewards and Certificates

The attendance of all pupils at Langley Park Primary Academy is closely monitored by senior staff. To this end, we have recently introduced a 95ToThrive attendance scheme whereby we will specifically monitor the attendance of any pupil whose attendance falls below 95%. As a school, we expect all children to achieve a minimum of 96% attendance during any academic year and our 95ToThrive scheme helps us to identify early on those that may be finding it difficult to achieve this and offer support and helpful strategies to get attendance back up to at least 96% attendance. We have a whole school attendance target of a minimum of 97%.

For this academic year and beyond, we are re-introducing attendance certificates to reward good and/or improved attendance. Rewards are a popular initiative used by a majority of schools as an incentive to improve attendance and punctuality, however it is important to point out that it is not just those achieving 100% attendance that are rewarded but also those that have attendance above our whole school attendance target (97%) as well as those whose attendance has improved greatly over a period of time. As a result of this inclusive approach to attendance, it is possible for each and every pupil to receive an attendance award. More information about specific certificates can be found below.

It is important for parents and carers to understand authorised and unauthorised absences, the limited flexibility that individual schools and academies have in applying these, and the effect they can have on everyday attendance. It may therefore be of use to explain the following:

• Attendance codes are issued by the Local Authority and their application is part of a statutory process that all schools are duty bound to follow.

• Principals/headteachers have very little, if any, input in what code is used in any given circumstance regarding attendance and/or punctuality.

• An absence from school is exactly that - an absence. We are unable to record this in any other way, whatever the reason. There are a number of attendance codes that reflect a child's absence, some are authorised and some unauthorised, and these are explained below. Schools and school staff are unable to decide which code is appropriate, we must follow guidance issued by the Local Authority at all times.

Common codes you may see on your child's attendance record explained:

L: This code reflects that a child has arrived late to school. All schools must have a policy that explains what time registers open and close. At LPPA, our morning register closes at 9.15am, therefore if you child arrives after the gates closes but before this time, they are marked with an L code to indicate an authorised late mark.

U: If your child arrives after the morning registers have closed at 9.15am, they will be marked with a U code. This code can severely affect a child's attendance if a pattern of lateness after registers have closed occurs; the U code actually reflects an absence for the whole morning session. If a child arrives after 9.15am, whether it is 1 minute later or 21 minutes later than this time, the U code must be applied. The U code is also an unauthorised attendance mark and can therefore contribute towards your child accumulating 10 sessions of unauthorised absence which triggers a Penalty Fine to be issued by the Local Authority. The U code is perhaps the easiest attendance code to avoid and we are happy to offer guidance and support around tips and techniques for ensuring your child arrives at school on time each day thus avoiding any unauthorised late marks in the register.

M: The M code represents an authorised absence and is used to represent when your child is absent from school due to attending a medical appointment i.e. an emergency GP appointment or dental appointment. Non-emergency routine medical appointments should always be made for outside of school hours. We do appreciate this is not always possible when it comes to hospital appointments but GP surgeries, dental surgeries and opticians all operate outside of school hours and it is therefore reasonable to request/expect parents and carers to request routine appointments for after school or during the holidays. As per our Attendance Policy, you may be asked to provide evidence of a medical appointment in order that we can apply an M code to your child's absence - this is not because we do not believe you, but because statutory guidance advises us to. With regards to the M code, it is also important to note that we are unable to authorise a whole day's absence from school for an appointment taking place in the morning or afternoon.

I: This code represents an authorised absence as a result of illness or positive testing for Covid-19. If your child is regularly absent from school due to illness that is unrelated to an underlying ongoing health condition, and attendance begins to be severely affected, you may be asked to provide medical evidence of further absence as a result of illness i.e. a prescription from your child's GP.

O: This code represents a general unauthorised absence for which another code is not appropriate. This is commonly used when a child is absent but we receive no communication from the parent/carer and are therefore unable to establish a reason for the absence. The O code can also be used on occasions when the academy is not satisfied with the reason given for a child's absence from school.

G: This code represents sessions of absence as a result of a child being taken out of school during term time for the purpose of a holiday. Statutory attendance processes do not permit schools to grant retrospective approval for absence as a result of holidays; if leave of absence is not applied for in advance, any absence as a result of a holiday must legally be recorded as unauthorised.