At Milesmark Primary School we have a strong approach to promoting positive relationships and behaviour and ensuring all children are included, engaged and involved in their education. We know that lower levels of attendance can have a negative impact on a child’s attainment, peer relationships, participation and ultimately future opportunities. It is vital, therefore, that we work closely with our school community to promote and ensure good attendance.
School staff will:
- Keep a register of attendance of each child enrolled at school, through recording attendance twice a day, and note attendance or absence for each morning and afternoon session
- Take action to confirm that a child is safe if they are identified as having not arrived at school. If a parent cannot be reached, emergency contact details will be used
- Review attendance every 6 weeks to identify children causing concern due to patterns of non-attendance
- Identify reasons for non-attendance and to take appropriate action to resolve any concerns. This will involve discussion, in some cases oral and written, with parents.
- Support children and families using staged intervention
Parents/carers have a key role to play in promoting good attendance. We ask parents/carers to inform the school by phone or letter if their child is going to be absent. Attendance can be affected by many factors and we ask families to work in equal partnership to support good attendance at school. If a child has a health appointment, they must be collected by a parent/carer.
Parents and carers do not have the automatic right to take their child out of school without permission. Under exceptional circumstances schools can authorise a family holiday during term-time. These do not include reasons such as:
- Availability of cheap holidays
- Availability of desired accommodation
- Parental difficulty in obtaining leave
- Holidays which overlap the beginning or end of term
School follow local and national guidance:
