Good attendance and punctuality remain a top priority for us at Franche Community Primary School. We have high expectations for all of our pupils and they are expected to attend regularly, on time with the correct uniform and ready to learn. Attendance is rigorously monitored daily allowing us to act swiftly and effectively to ensure this does not begin to impact on a pupil’s education. When attendance becomes a cause for concern, parents/carers will be contacted. We will work with parents/carers and pupils to establish, understand and overcome any barriers.
We strive to ensure your child has the best opportunities to be the best they can be, to feel safe and supported in school, and to develop a sense of belonging both with their peers and as a wider part of our school community. To support that, regular attendance will be key.
We expect all pupils to attend school as regularly as possible. Our ambition for every child is 100% attendance.
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Contact details for Attendance:
Attendance Officer: Mrs Ellis
Email: attendance@francheprimary.worcs.sch.uk
Designated Senior Lead for Attendance: Paula Woodward
Email: safeguarding@francheprimary.worcs.sch.uk
Contact: 01562 751788
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As parents/carers you can best support your child to secure regular attendance and punctuality by:
- Ensuring a good bedtime routine to enable your child to get enough sleep.
- Establishing a good routine each evening and each morning so your child is prepared for the school day ahead.
- Making sure your child attends school every day it is open, unless there is an exceptional reason preventing this.
- Ensuring your child arrives at school on time every day.
- Arranging dental and medical appointments outside school hours wherever possible.
- Informing the school if your child is ill and too unwell to attend.
- Taking absence seriously – if your child is not wanting to attend, or has not attended as you expected why is this? Are they putting themselves at risk – Who are they with? What are they doing? Do you know who they are talking to online?
- Taking any holidays during school holiday periods, and not during term time
- Talking positively to your child about school and taking an interest in their school day
- Attending parents evenings and school events.
- Praising and rewarding your child’s efforts and achievements at school.
- Supporting school staff by working in partnership to best manage and support your child with any difficult or challenging behaviour or circumstances.
- Discussing any problems or difficulties with the school as soon as they arise – staff are here to help.
In the event of child illness:-
- It is parent/carer responsibility to contact school and report the absence as before 8.30am in the morning. If we have not heard from you, we will contact you to enquire why your child is not in school. Your child’s safety is very important to us and we need to establish that your child is safe in accordance with our Attendance and Safeguarding procedures. If we are unable to establish why your child is absent the absence will be coded as “unauthorised”.
- Please keep us informed each day of your child’s condition whilst they are ill.
- To assist parents deciding whether their child is too ill to attend school or otherwise, the NHS have produced a weblink you may also find useful:
The Law states that parents do not have an automatic right to remove their children from school during term time. Headteachers are also only permitted to grant permission if there are deemed to be exceptional circumstances.
Permission will not be granted for absences such as: holidays, birthdays, day trips.
Evidence is required for all applications. Acceptable forms of evidence are a copy of a holiday confirmation, programme/itinerary for dance or sporting events, copy of wedding invitation. This evidence must show the start and end date of your planned application for leave.
Should your child be absent from school prior to or after your planned leave, thus extending the leave period to more than 5 days in a 10-week period, then medical evidence must be provided.
Forms must be submitted at least 4 weeks prior to any anticipated leave
Penalty notices
Penalty notices must be considered by the Headteacher and issued by the local authority where there are more than 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling 10-week period. This threshold can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence (e.g. 4 sessions of holiday taken in term time plus 6 sessions of arriving late after the register closes all within 10 school weeks). These sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one week) or not (e.g. 6 sessions of unauthorised absence taken in 1 week and 1 per week for the next 4 weeks). The period of 10 school weeks can also span different terms or school years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the Summer Term and a further 8 within the Autumn Term).
This means that any consecutive or cumulative unauthorised 5-day absence within a 10-week school period will now hit the threshold for school to request a penalty notice to be issued by the local authority.
Penalty notices will be issued per parent per child
A penalty notice will be issued to each parent per child that is absent. For example, a family with 2 parents and 2 children will result in each parent being issued with 2 penalty notices. A penalty notice can be issued to each parent liable for the offence or offences. They should usually only be issued to the parent or parents who have allowed the absence (regardless of which parent has applied for a leave of absence).
Please note there is now an escalation process in relation to penalty notices. This means repeat offences will result in penalty notices will increase in cost to the parent. This is outlined below:
First offence:
The first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
Second offence:
A second penalty notice issued within three years to the same parent in respect of the same pupil is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.
Third offence:
A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within those 3 years, alternative action should be taken instead. This will often include considering prosecution, but may include other tools such as one of the other attendance legal interventions.