“Education is the passport to your future. Attendance is the stamp that gets you there.”  

We hope that all of our pupils leave school equipped with a life-long love of learning and the resilience to adapt, succeed and find happiness, whatever life path they choose. Social, emotional and mental wellbeing; academic success; a sense of belonging, and an ability to make and sustain friendships are all linked to good attendance and punctuality at school.

Our whole-school target for attendance is 96%, with an aspiration to reach 98%.

We hope this at-a-glance guide is useful when understanding our attendance policy. Please see the end of the page for details on changes to Fixed Penalty Notices, since August 2024. Our full policy is available via the link at the bottom of the page.

• Parents have a legal duty to ensure their children receive an education.
• Children on our role must therefore attend school daily, except in exceptional circumstances.
• Parents with children attending our Nursery are expected to follow school policies including attendance.

• School must be notified via phone or email, by 9:15am, of any sickness/unplanned absence with a detailed reason for absence.
• Not notifying school of reason for absence will lead to an unauthorised mark (U) and could trigger our safeguarding procedures.
• The Admin team will text then call to establish reasons for absence if they are not informed by 9:15am. This detracts from the daily tasks they should be doing to ensure the smooth running of the school.
• All absence, including authorised absence, is included in pupils’ official attendance percentages.
• If official attendance falls below 80%, all absence, including sickness, will be unauthorised.
• Arbor parent portal can be used to stay up-to-date with any individual child’s attendance data.
• We celebrate whole-school attendance in assembly each week. We do not single-out or penalise children for poor attendance, or publically highlight specific classes with highest or lowest attendance.
• We do not offer bribes/rewards for 100% attendance as we recognise the de-motivating impact, particularly for children with conditions which mean unavoidable time out of school.
• School will update all parents, every half term, on their child/ren’s attendance figure, recognise improvements and offer support where the figure is falling.

Absence

Missing sessions of learning leads to gaps in knowledge, impacts progress and affects friendships and mental wellbeing. Our children talk confidently and knowledgably about this. They know they miss the chance to finish off projects and published pieces of work and that they miss special events such as STEM days, school discos and class photos by being taken out of school before the end of term.

No absence will be authorised unless deemed an exceptional circumstance. Exceptional circumstances will usually be authorised if/when: a child is too ill to attend; a day exclusively set aside for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupils’ parents belong; attending the funeral or wedding of a close relative (parent/grandparent/sibling); an exam held by external body such as music/drama/dance that cannot be scheduled outside school; representing the county in a sporting event; unavoidable medical or dental appointments which cannot be scheduled outside of school hours, such as emergency appointments or surgery dates.

Absence will not usually be authorised for: routine medical/dental appointment; optician appointment; hair dresser appointment; waiting in for a delivery; shopping; a sibling being off sick; day-trips; long weekends; holidays during term time; tiredness; transport issues. Any illness, once attendance reaches 80%. 

As of 19^th August 2024, the DfE National Framework for Penalty Notices says school must consider a fixed penalty notice after 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling 10-week period. This is specifically designed to stop term-time holidays.  

• Absence request forms must be completed for all planned absence at least two weeks before the date of the absence. Where the request is for a medical appointment, the appointment letter must be attached.

The attendance team aims to support all families for whom absence or repeated lateness is impacting on progress and success at school. We offer phone calls and meetings to discuss barriers to attendance and punctuality.

SEN & Mental Health

Attendance of children with SEND or children suffering from social, emotional or mental health issues will be considered on a case by case basis and reasonable adaptations and adjustments made. This will be in consultation with parents/carers and follow DfE guidance:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3

www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-issues-affecting-a-pupils-attendance-guidance-for-schools

Why does attendance and punctuality matter?

Every session at school is 3.25 hours long. Every session absent means missed learning. It means gaps in a sequence of planned lessons and even larger gaps in knowledge.

Arriving late means: missing the social time to greet friends; missing the information about the timetable for the day; missing the key input at the start of the first lesson; missing being part of choosing a group to work in; feeling uncomfortable/embarrassed when entering the classroom.

Our school is keen to work with families to improve attendance. We have listened to the views of parents and taken on board feedback. We recognise that there is no perfect way to capture all contexts or events affecting individuals' attendance each half-term and thank parents for keeping us informed of each child's unique circumstances. Parents are able to check the most up-to-date attendance data using the Arbor Parent Portal. 

For more information about how leaders are supporting families to improve attendance, and measures the school will be taking to combat persistent absence, please see the attendance policy. Warning letters and fixed-penalty notices linked to individual attendance will continue to be sent in accordance with the school's attendance policy.

Fixed Penalty Notices

In line with the new National Framework for Penalty Notices, in place since 19^th August 2024, we will email or write to you after:

• 4 sessions of unauthorised absence = warning email about fixed-penalty notice.
• 7 sessions of unauthorised absence = 2nd warning email/letter about fixed-penalty notice.
• 10 sessions of unauthorised absence = fixed penalty warning notice may be issued: £80 per parent, per child or a notice to improve document may be served after 10 sessions.

In addition, as a school, to support with attendance we will organise and invite you to attend a meeting to discuss any support that we can offer or any barriers preventing improved attendance.

Unauthorised sessions are tallied across the current and previous term (10-week rolling period). All families will be given a clean slate for September 2024, due to the new framework being implemented.

Hertfordshire County Council has produced this at-a-glance guide to the new FPN details