Attendance policy 2023 - 24

Rationale 

Coop Academy Clarice Cliff is committed to raising the achievement of all pupils. One of the many ways we do this is by promoting good attendance and punctuality which are essential components of a child’s education. In order to make the most of the learning opportunities provided within the academy, children need to have the continuity of provision which consistent attendance allows.  We are committed to providing a full and efficient educational experience to all pupils. 

We work within the “Working together to improve school attendance” guidance which identifies “schools and partners should work with pupils and parents to remove any barriers to attendance by building strong and trusting relationships and working together to put the right support in place” (DfE Guidance September 2022).

Our academy will give a high priority to sharing with parents the importance of regular and punctual attendance. Pupils will know that their presence is important and we will offer an environment in which they feel valued and welcome. Academy staff will demonstrate an understanding of an individual’s personal circumstances, while encouraging and expecting children to arrive punctually and ready for work. Good personal organisation and time-keeping is part of our academy ethos. We recognise parents play a vital role and we will establish strong home-school links and communications systems with them.

It is the policy of our academy to celebrate success for all pupils and attendance is a critical contributory factor. We will actively promote and encourage excellent attendance for all our pupils. There are a variety of reward schemes in place to promote and encourage good attendance and punctuality. The Home School agreement which is signed by staff, parents and the pupil, contains a section which is specifically relating to attendance and punctuality.

Our academy recognises that attendance is a cause for concern with regards to child protection. Regular poor attendance and punctuality is an indicator of specific safeguarding issues including neglect. Where the school has significant concerns with regard to attendance, safeguarding procedures will be followed (please see the school child protection and safeguarding policy). This could potentially result in a referral to social care (ChAD).

This policy has been discussed with, and agreed by the School Council as well as staff, Governors and other agencies.

Aims 

Responsibilities 

All members of academy staff have a responsibility for identifying trends in attendance and punctuality. The following includes a more specific list of the kinds of responsibilities which individuals might have.

Class teacher

Class teachers are responsible for:

• Contributing to the development and maintenance of a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of good attendance.
• Good quality teaching and learning and a highly engaging and positive learning environment which motivates pupils to want to attend school.
• Regularly checking class and individual attendance, looking particularly for either poor overall attendance, anomalies in patterns of attendance and / or unusual explanations for absence offered by children and their parents / guardians.
• Ensuring that registers are completed on SIMS in the morning and afternoon.
• Ensuring that any class cover is able to complete registers.
• Speaking to parents about any pupils who are causing concern.
• Reporting to the SLO any parental contact. This will be added to SIMS by tagging on the register.
• Informing the Deputy Head / SLO where those concerns continue after the initial contact.
• Monitoring any follow-up once actions have been taken to correct attendance concerns.
• Providing attendance information for pupil progress meetings.
• Raising the profile of good attendance by emphasising with their class the importance of good attendance and promptness through a variety of rewards and incentives.
• Discussing attendance issues at parent’s evenings / pupil passport meetings.
• Introduce individual incentives where appropriate.

Administration staff

Office staff are responsible for:

• Contributing to the development and maintenance of a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of good attendance.
• Adding appropriate codes to the registers after teachers have completed their registers on SIMS.
• Contacting families via phone on the first day of absence if not notified.
• Completing follow up phone calls after three days for any pupils who have not returned who were expected to and requesting medical evidence.
• Following up specific requests from the Head teacher / Deputy for information about individuals.
• Informing the Deputy / SLO on a formal and an informal basis of patterns of attendance noted.
• Processing and following up holiday request forms.
• Raising unexplained absences of vulnerable pupils with the safeguarding team.

The Attendance Team (Deputy Head teacher, SLO, FSA)

The attendance team is responsible for:

• The development and maintenance of a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of good attendance.
• The creation, update and sharing of the school attendance policy.
• Ensuring that robust daily processes to follow up absence are in place.
• Proactively using data to identify pupils at risk of poor attendance.
• Collating weekly attendance percentages and analysing for vulnerable pupil groups.
• Sharing weekly attendance updates with parents about whole school attendance.
• Informing the Head Teacher on a formal and an informal basis of patterns of attendance noted.
• Providing a point of contact between individual teachers, the Head Teacher and the Education Welfare Service.
• Liaising with other professionals to determine potential sources of difficulties and reasons for absence.
• Using the persistent absenteeism framework for identification of pupils whose attendance falls below 90%.
• Ensuring that the attendance policy is followed and that the actions from the EWO and school attendance meetings are carried out and minutes are kept.
• Liaising and discussing with parents any issues relating to attendance and then signposting to any required services to overcome any barriers to attendance
• Contribute to multi-agency work in order to support attendance.
• Feedback and discussions with the class teacher over individual cases.
• Whole school weekly incentives.
• Organising attendance clinics for targeted families.  
• Sharing attendance information with governors on a termly basis and responding to any challenges.
• Identifying attendance trends which may indicate a potential safeguarding issue.
• Completing home visits for pupils who are persistently absent and no reason given for the absence.
• Completing late gates to monitor punctuality.

The Head Teacher

The Head Teacher is responsible for:

• The development and maintenance of a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of good attendance.
• Overall monitoring of school attendance and setting of challenging attendance targets for the academy.
• Ensuring that the attendance team implement the attendance policy
• Reporting statistics to the Governors as part of the Head Teacher’s termly report
• Challenging the attendance team to ensure that attendance levels remain in line with national expectations.

The SENDCO

The SENDCO is responsible for:

• Ensuring that any pupil on the SEND register who has attendance as a barrier to learning will have support from the SENDCO.
• Including attendance targets and additional support as part of the Individual Learning Plan or EHCP.

Parental Responsibility

Ensuring a child’s regular attendance at school is parents' legal responsibility and permitting absence without good reason is an offence in law and may result in legal action being taken, or a Penalty Notice being issued.

Under Section 444 (1) of the Education Act of 1996, parents or those with parental responsibility for children of school age, are required to ensure that their children are in receipt of full time education. Children are required to attend and stay at school.

Working Together to improve whole school attendance guidance identifies:

“It is the legal responsibility of every parent to make sure their child receives that education either by attendance at a school or by education otherwise than at a school.  This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from school”.

All pupils

We expect parents and carers to:

• Be responsible for their children’s regular attendance, ensuring that they are in a fit condition to learn.
• To notify the academy on the first day of absence by phone when their child is unable to attend with the reason for their child’s absence.
• To further inform if the absence is continuing and keep the academy updated in cases of lengthy absence.
• To provide medical evidence if requested in the form of a copy of a prescription, GP note, etc.
• Book any medical appointments around the school day where possible.
• Only request leave of absence if it is for exceptional circumstances and do so in advance.
• Be responsible for seeing that their children’s journeys to and from the academy are safe and that they arrive on time each day.

Persistently absent pupils (attendance of 90% or below)

We expect parents to:

• Work with the academy and the local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance.
• Proactively engage with the formal support offered - including any parenting contract or voluntary early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.

Severely absent pupils

We expect parents and carers to:

• Work with the academy and the local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance.
• Proactively engage with the formal support offered - including any parenting contract or voluntary early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.

Support for pupils with medical conditions or SEND with poor attendance

We expect parents and carers to:

• Work with the school and local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance.
• Proactively engage with the support offered.

Reluctant attenders / school refusal

• Parents should do everything possible to encourage their child to attend. However, if the reason for their reluctance appears to be school-based, such as difficulties with school work, we expect parents to discuss this with the school at the earliest opportunity and the school will do everything possible to sort the problem out.
• School refusal / school phobia is a psychological condition that usually has been medically diagnosed. Other arrangements may be put in place for a child with genuine school phobia.

Attendance issues will be raised through:

• Discussions with class teachers
• Parents’ Evenings.
• Newsletters.
• The school traffic light attendance coding system (see appendix A).
• Weekly dojo posts identifying whole school attendance and classes of the week.
• Attendance clinics.
• Individual attendance letters and in cases of non-compliance, via the Education Welfare Service.

Parents will be promptly informed over any concerns regarding attendance and given the opportunity to discuss these matters with the School Liaison Officer, Deputy Head Teacher and, if appropriate, the Education Welfare Officer.

Children’s responsibility

We expect our children to:

• Attend every day unless they are ill
• Arrive on time with the correct equipment
• Inform an adult if something / someone is making them not want to attend  
• Set targets each half term to improve their attendance where it becomes a concern

Absences 

We understand that sometimes it can be difficult to make the decision whether to send a child into school or not.  However, there are very few cases where a child does need to stay at home.  The DfE have published guidance for parents to refer to in order to help them make this decision which can be found here:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

If you are still unsure then please contact a member of the pastoral team who will bbe happy to discuss this.

Reporting absences 

It is the parent’s responsibility to inform the academy of the reasons for their child’s non-attendance as soon as possible on the first day of absence via the school telephone service. School staff will ask for a reason for the absence and an estimate of how long the absence will continue for. Absences reported by text message will NOT be classed as an authorised absence. Medical evidence may be requested for absences longer than three days.

Authorised absence 

The Head teacher has the ultimate responsibility for authorising absences and will do so when a valid reason is given for the child’s absence. A pupil’s absence from the academy will be considered unauthorised until a satisfactory explanation is received. Absences will only be authorised for up to three days. For absences longer than this, the school will consider attendance trends and may request medical evidence for further absences.

Authorised absence covers:

• Genuine illness
• Medical and dental appointments which are unavoidable
• Extenuating circumstances such as family emergencies
• Days of religious observance
• Fixed term exclusions
• Permanent exclusions
• Attendance at a pupil referral unit

Unauthorised absence 

An unauthorised absence will be given when:

• A child does not attend the academy and no reason has been provided for their absence
• Medical evidence has been requested but not supplied
• The pupil is being monitored by the academy / Education Welfare Service
• The Head Teacher refuses to authorise a holiday request but the holiday is still taken
• Unacceptable reasons for absences including:  staying off school for haircuts, buying shoes, birthdays, new computer games out.

Medical and dental appointments 

The school expects parents to make medical and dental appointments for their children before or after school or during the school holidays. If this is not possible then authorisation will be given where confirmation of the appointment is received. Children will need to be signed in and out using the Inventry signing in system. Children are expected to attend the academy prior to the appointment and parents are expected to return their children to the academy following the appointment whenever possible.

Holidays 

Taking holidays in term time will affect a child’s schooling as much as any other absence and we expect parents to support their child’s education by not taking children away in school time.

Penalty notice for Leave of Absence in term time

From 1 September 2019, any period of unauthorised leave may result in a parent receiving a penalty notice fine. The Head Teacher will continue to be the only person able to authorise leave in term time but this will only apply in exceptional circumstances. Any leave taken which is recorded as unauthorised absence by the school may be referred by the Head Teacher into the Local Authority and the following actions may be applied:

• A Penalty Notice payable of a £60 or £120 fine.
• Prosecution under Section 444 (1) Education Act 1996, where if convicted, you may be fined up to £1000.

This follows the local authority Code of Conduct to ensure that Penalty Notices are issued consistently and fairly across the local authority area, in accordance with the relevant legislation.

Remember that any savings that may be made by taking a holiday in school time are offset by the cost to a child’s education.

There is no automatic entitlement in law to time off in school time to go on holiday.

A parent must obtain prior written permission from the Head Teacher of the school if they want to take their child out of school during term time.

• This needs to be done four weeks in advance of the proposed absence using a holiday request form available from the office.
• A meeting will be arranged with the Head Teacher and School Liaison Officer to provide the reason for the proposed absence and the impact that this will have on a child’s education.
• The Head Teacher will then discuss this request with a representative from the Governing Body and respond in writing.

Absence will always be unauthorised for holiday in term time. However, when a child has attendance above 96%, the school may choose not to request a penalty notice.

A parent can be fined for taking a child on holiday during term time without the prior written permission of the head teacher. Penalty notices are £60 per parent per child, if paid within 21 days of issue, after which they double to £120. Unpaid penalty notices will proceed to court.

Special occasions 

A request for a child to attend a special occasion during term time, e.g. family wedding must be made in advance and the Head Teacher will make the decision whether to authorise the absence. Attendance history will be taken into consideration when making these decisions. Parents will be notified of the Head’s decision.

Bereavement 

The school is sensitive to family requests for a child’s attendance at funerals or associated events. The Head Teacher will offer the family advice over absence in this instance.

  Days of Religious Observance 

Up to two days authorised absence will be granted for religious observance held by a religious body. The Head Teacher should be consulted in advance of the absence. Where more than two days per academic year is required then a leave of absence form should be submitted for authorisation.

Children Missing Education 

The school follows the guidelines from the LSCB on Children Missing Education.

Guidance published by the Department for Education in September 2016 states: “Children missing education are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. Children missing education are at significant risk of underachieving, being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life.

The school recognises that children may fall out of the education system due to the following:

• Failure to start appropriate provision and hence never enter the system;
• Ceasing to attend, due to exclusion or withdrawal;
• Failure to complete a transition between providers.

Where children are at risk of missing education, the school works closely with the Education Welfare Service. Pupils will only be “off-registered” from the school records when consent has been received from our Education Welfare Officer. Staff recognise that missing education is a potential sign that pupils are at risk of harm linked to a number of safeguarding issues.

When a pupil is expected to join the academy and does not arrive, the academy will immediately raise this with the LA admissions team to establish whether the child is known to have registered elsewhere. If not, then the EWO will be consulted.

Children who are looked after (LAC), subject to a Child Protection Plan or Children in Need will be treated with highest priority and will be known to the Pastoral Team. Any unexplained absences will be followed up by a telephone call to the home, a home visit or contact with the family social worker.

Children with Special Education Needs (SEN) will be treated with similar priority in order that their time in the academy can be maximised, and their learning supported to the greatest extent possible.

For further information, refer to SOT Children Missing Education Policy:

Children Missing  Education Policy October 19.docx (also available via the office and on the academy website).

School procedures for attendance and punctuality

Procedures for school staff

• At the start of the school day, members of SLT and the pastoral team will open the gates at 8.40 a.m. to allow parents and pupils onto the school grounds.  The school doors will open at 8.45 a.m. and close at 8.50 a.m. Staff will be on duty on the school doors.
• Registers will be taken from 8.50 a.m. and closed at 9 a.m. for year groups from Reception to Year 6.  Registers will close at 9 a.m. in the morning and 1 p.m. (Y3 and 4), 1.15 p.m. (Rec, Y1 and Y2) and 1.30 p.m. (Y5 and 6) in the afternoon.
• Pupils who arrive at school in the morning after 9 a.m. will be recorded as late to school.
• Pupils who arrive after 8.50 a.m. in the morning will need to sign into school using the Inventry system but won’t be classed as late until registers close at 9 a.m.  Lateness may be recorded as an unauthorised absence which can be subject to prosecution by the local authority.
• All children should be marked either present or absent.
• Pupils who are collected late will sign out using Inventry which will then be regularly monitored.  If this is happening consistently, a meeting will be arranged and parents charged for after school club provision from Busy Bees Care Club.
• Pupils who are collected early for appointments or other reasons will sign out using Inventry.  This will be regularly monitored by the office team and any issues raised with the pastoral team.  A meeting will be arranged to discuss this and possibly an attendance plan put into place.

Procedures for the office team

• Absences which are reported to the school office will be recorded on Arbor.
• Each day, a print off of any unexplained absences will be shared with the School Liaison Officer to check for any pupils who are being monitored, safeguarding issues or if any other reasons have been provided.
• If there is an unexplained absence, a member of the school office will telephone the parent to ask for an explanation.  If there is no response, this will be repeated.  If there is no response after three attempts, a text message will be sent to ask for an explanation.
• A record of any contact will be added as a note on Arbor.

Elective home education

If the academy receives written notification from parents that they wish to home educate their child then we will inform the Local Authority contact Jo Sofley of the decision to remove the child’s name from the admission register.  Meetings will be arranged with parents prior to the final decision to support parents in making an informed decision.

Following up attendance issues – procedures 

Our key aim within the academy is to work with parents to address any barriers to attendance so that all pupils at the academy can have an excellent education.  We will follow key procedures within the family to ensure excellent attendance for all pupils.  These procedures are as follows:

Lateness 

Children can get very easily upset when they arrive late at the academy after the bell has gone. This causes them distress and also leads to missing key parts of the curriculum.

Children are expected to arrive punctually for the start of the day. The academy doors open at 8.45 a.m. and children can enter the building to settle in to “Wake up Work”. The school day starts at 8.50 a.m. Registration is between 8.50 and 9.00 am. The school gates are locked at 8.50 a.m. and children arriving after this must report to the school office, where they will be registered via the late book and given a late pass. The registers will be closed at 9.0am. Any child arriving after 9.00am will be given an unauthorised absence mark in the register. After persistent late marks, the stages of the attendance policy will be followed as with any other unauthorised absences. In law, lateness constitutes absences and penalty notice fines can be issued in persistent cases. Persistent lateness is also an indicator of neglect and therefore a cause for concern.

Regular “Late gates” will be held by theSchool Liaison Officer in order to challenge any lateness and to work with families to ensure that their child is punctual.

Encouraging good attendance and punctuality 

It is important to remember that the vast majority of children at Coop Academy Clarice Cliff arrive on time and every day. An important part of our attendance policy is that this is celebrated and all pupils are supported in achieving this.

Working with governors 

The school governor responsible for attendance is Francess Edwards as the safeguarding governor. They regularly meet with the Deputy Head / SLO to challenge levels of attendance and how the school is working to improve attendance. She also reports to other governors during Full Governing Body meetings.

Monitoring 

The Head Teacher will report the attendance percentage for the academy and on any specific trends and / or difficulties with individuals to the governing body in the termly “Head Teachers report”.

Review 

The policy is due for review during the Autumn Term 2024 or before in line with new legislation. Its success should be judged by answers to the following questions:

● Have we reached our attendance target of 96%?

● Is everyone aware of the procedures to be followed?

● Do class teachers and children have high expectations of themselves and others? ● Are forms and records regularly completed?

Signed:…………………………………………… Date:…………………………………….

Appendix A - First Concerns letter

Dear Parent/Carer

Attendance

***** attendance is currently ****%. Attendance at school is very important and at Clarice Cliff Primary is taken very seriously.

It has been proven that pupils with good attendance actually achieve better results at school and have fewer problems academically and socially.  We realise that there are times when children are genuinely ill, but we want to discourage non-attendance for minor illnesses, like coughs and colds, and also from taking holidays during term time.

Our Educational Welfare Officer is in school on a regular basis and monitors all attendance.  Persistent non-attendance can also lead to court fines.

Thank you for your support in this matter.  If you wish to discuss the situation further then please contact the school office to arrange an appointment.

Yours sincerely

Mrs E Day

Deputy Head Teacher/Attendance lead

Appendix B - Medical evidence letter

Date

Dear Parent

I am writing to you regarding ******* attendance which is currently **%.  All children with attendance around 90% or 20 unauthorised absences are referred to our Educational Welfare Officer and are monitored accordingly.

As ****** attendance is below 90% we have been advised by the Educational Welfare Service that at any further absences should be recorded as unauthorised unless medical evidence is provided.  This can be in the form of a Doctors letter, hospital letter or an appointment card.

Regular attendance is of such importance that persistent absence from school can lead to penalty notices, fines and court cases.  We will continue to monitor ******* attendance and hope to see an improvement.

If you would like to discuss this matter further or would like advice on maintaining regular attendance, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Yours sincerely

Mrs E Day

Deputy Head Teacher/Attendance lead

Appendix C - Invite to an attendance clinic

Attendance clinics

Dear Parent,

As you are aware, the school carefully monitors attendance of all pupils.  Good attendance is linked to good performance in the classroom and it is essential that these good habits are established from Primary School.

Through our monitoring procedures, we have identified that *********  attendance is currently ******% which is a concern.  Therefore, we have made an appointment with Miss Hudson on (Date) ******* for you to discuss this current level of attendance and try to identify ways in which this can be improved.  If there are little improvements, then this could lead to a formal referral to the Education Welfare Service.

Your appointment time is ....... and will be held at Coop Academy Clarice Cliff.  If you are unable to make this time, please could you contact the school as soon as possible.  Any missed appointments will be followed up by the Education Welfare Officer.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs E Day

Deputy Head Teacher/Attendance Lead

Appendix D - Attendance clinic letter - did not attend

Dear …………………..                                                                                         

It is disappointing that you failed to attend the school attendance clinic held on ………………... The purpose of the attendance clinic was a positive measure to discuss the issues impacting upon attendance and to offer support where appropriate.  It is really important that parents and school work together to promote good attendance.

As an Academy we take attendance very seriously and follow the procedures outlined in the school attendance policy

As …………….. has more than …… unauthorised attendance marks within the last ……… weeks, an application for a Penalty Notice Warning Letter has been requested and …………… attendance will be monitored by Educational Welfare for signs of improvement.  We would really like to see an improvement in ……………..  attendance as this will have a positive long term impact.

If you wish to discuss this further then please contact the school office and we will be happy to arrange a further attendance clinic.

We look forward to working together to improve ……………… attendance.

Yours sincerely

Mrs E Day

Deputy Head Teacher/ Attendance and Safeguarding lead

Encs

Appendix E - Penalty Warning Notice

Dear *********

Education Act 1996 – School Attendance (Inserted by S23 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003)

It has been brought to my attention that your child, ******, date of birth ******, is in irregular attendance, which has been recorded as unauthorised absence, at Coop Academy Clarice Cliff

Section 444 (1) of the Education Act, 1996 states that: “If a child of compulsory school age, who is a registered pupil at a school, fails to attend regularly at the school, his (her) parent is guilty of an offence.” The Education Welfare Team, in line with Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Code of Practice, is now giving you an opportunity to ensure your child’s improved attendance at school. On receipt of this letter your child’s attendance will be monitored for 20 school days from ***** to ********* 

Should there be no improvement in your child’s attendance and further unauthorised absences recorded, then the Education Welfare Service may take the following legal proceedings against you for failure to comply with the Law:

• A Penalty Notice payable of a £60 or £120 fine.
• Prosecution under s444(1) Education Act 1996, where if convicted you may be fined up to £1,000.  
• Prosecution under s444(1)(a) Education Act 1996 where if convicted you may be fined up to £2,500 and/or 3 months imprisonment.

We look forward to seeing an improvement in your child’s attendance over the coming 20 days and trust it will not be necessary to take enforcement proceedings in this respect.

In the first instance, if you have any issues, please contact the Education Welfare Service using the details below.

Yours sincerely

Please tell us if you need this letter in an alternative format

contacting the council:

Telephone: 01782 23 4234      Text: 07786200700    

Email: Enquiries@stoke.gov.uk

stoke.gov.uk

Appendix F - Attendance zones

Appendix G

Start of year reminder letter for 90% and below attendance

Dear Parent/Carer

RE: Your Child’s Attendance Matters to Us

Last year, xxxxx missed over 20 days of learning. Because of the number of days off, the government would have classed them as a persistent absentee. Our aim is for all students to have 100% attendance. This would mean missing no days of school. Our minimum expectation of 96% means that we would expect children to miss no more than two days per term (or 6 in a year).  

We know that when students miss school they fall behind.  Just missing five days a year of school could decrease your child’s chances of achieving well by 10% – whether the absence is authorised or unauthorised. Pupils who attend school regularly on average also feel better connected, develop superior social skills and have higher self-esteem and confidence. Not being in school means your child is missing out on the essentials they need to be successful.

Our purpose is to support every child to achieve their very best.  In order to do this, we would like you to ensure xxxxx attends school on every day possible so that they can achieve better attendance this year and therefore maximise their chances of success. With an extra 14 days in school, xxxxx could achieve considerably more.

If you need any support regarding your child’s attendance please contact the school to speak to a member of the pastoral team. We are here to help and want to see xxxxx in school, every day.

Thank you for supporting xxxx’s progress by ensuring they are in school, every day and on time.  You could have a big impact on their attendance.

Yours sincerely

Mrs D. Broadhurst

Head Teacher