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Attendance

Attendance

Regular school attendance is a vital part of giving your child the best possible start in life. Talking to your child and their teachers could help solve any problems you may have in getting your child to go to school.

Please contact the school office if you need any support or guidance relating to attendance.

By law, all children of compulsory school age (normally four to 16) must receive a suitable full-time education. For most parents, this means registering their child at a school – though some choose to make other arrangements to provide a suitable, full-time education.

School Times

School begins promptly at 8:45 am. If your child arrives after this time they must report to the school office, so we can mark them as present but late on the register. If your child has not arrived at school by 8.45, then a phone call will be made to establish why your child is not in school. It may be that they have arrived late and NOT reported to the office, but we still need to establish where they are. If you do not notify the school of the absence, the mark given will be unauthorised. Please refer to the table below for school times:

 

EYFS

KS1

KS2

School gates open

8.40

8.35

8.35

Children need to be in school by

8.50

8.45

8.45

Child marked as late after

8.50

8.45

8.45

Registers closed and child marked as absent

9.20

9.15

9.15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you do not notify the school, and we cannot contact a parent or emergency contact, we will endeavour to visit the family home to ensure that the child is safe. Please ensure the contact details we have for you are up-to-date.

If your child has to attend a doctor’s/hospital appointment, the school needs to be notified in advance and any appointment cards/letters will need to be shown to evidence this. Please make appointments where possible in school holidays or outside school times.

We understand that there are sometimes circumstances in which your child cannot attend or maybe late and in these situations, we ask that you approach us to discuss this. We want to help your child to receive the very best out of their time at our school and excellent attendance and punctuality are key.

To request to take your child out of school please complete a request of absence form and submit via the school office; [email protected]

How do we promote good attendance in our school?

Steyning C of E Primary School regularly promotes good attendance in school. We discuss the importance of attendance in school with the children, in collective worship and lessons. We give certificates for children who have attended school 97% or more each year and Gold certificates for those who managed 100%. Each term those with 97% and 100% are also recognised. The class with the best attendance is also celebrated weekly and annually in achievement assembly.

Every 6 weeks we do an attendance check and any parent/carer of a child whose attendance has fallen below our target threshold of 96% will receive a letter informing them of their low attendance. If your child’s attendance continues to fall we will discuss this with you to support you in improving it. Letters will also be sent out parents/carers of children who have a poor level of punctuality.

If you wish to discuss anything at all concerning your child’s attendance/punctuality, please contact the school office. We are here to help.