School attendance Guidance

Who is this guidance for?   This guidance is for:

• local authorities

• all school staff, head teachers, governors, alternative provision providers

• independent schools for pupil registers

This guidance may also be useful for parents and carers.

To read this Guidance document please click here

Compulsory School Age

A child reaches compulsory school age on or after their fifth birthday. If they turn 5 between 1 January and 31 March, then they are of compulsory school age on 31 March; if they turn 5 between 1 April and 31 August, then they are of compulsory school age on 31 August. If they turn 5 between 1 September and 31 December, then they are of compulsory school age on 31 December. A child continues to be of compulsory school age until the last Friday of June in the school year that they reach sixteen.   (DfE July 2019)

Attendance 

If your child is absent due to illness, please call the absence line and leave a message, on each morning of the absence. If the school considers the level of attendance to be of concern we will request medical evidence for each absence in order to avoid each missed session being marked as unauthorized.   “Headteachers have the discretion to grant leave, but they should only do so in exceptional circumstances. If a Headteacher grants a leave request, it will be for them to determine the length of time that the child can be away from school”.  This leave is unlikely, however, to be granted for the purposes of a family holiday parents/carers will need to complete an absence request form which is available from the school office/main foyer or Forms section of our website.

The Acting Headteacher (Mrs. Baker) works with the school's Attendance Officer (Mrs. Rebair) to promote excellent attendance, reduce levels of absence and work with children and families to promote high levels of attendance.  It is important to promote and support high levels of attendance, to support students in achieving their full potential and to promote a positive attendance and punctuality culture.  Schools should monitor attendance and address it when it is poor or irregular.  All schools must inform the local authority of any pupil who fails to attend school regularly.

"Where school staff have concerns about a child, they will use their professional judgement and knowledge of the individual pupil to inform their decision as to whether welfare concerns should be escalated".  (DfE guidance September 2018).

Punctuality

Attendance 2023 / 2024

Which class will be

"Attendance Superheroes"

this year and win a free school trip?

September winners:        Jade Class

October winners:             Purple Class

November winners:         Green Class

December winners:         Purple Class 

January winners:           

February winners:            

March winners:                    

April winners:                   

May winners:     

June winners:

July winners:                 

Attendance 2022 / 2023

September winners:  Yellow Class

October     winners:   Green Class

November winners:   Purple Class

December winners:   Yellow Class

January     winners:   Purple Class

February   winners:   Red Class

March        winners:   Orange Class

April           winners:   Orange Class

May            winners:   Red Class

June           winners:   Purple Class

July            winners:   Purple Class

PJ Masks attendance achievers:

Purple class achieved the best overall attendance and celebrated with a trip to Treasure Island in Morpeth.  All pupils individually achieving 100% were awarded a gift voucher as too.

PJ Masks are superheroes for little ones: by day, they go to school everyday like all the other children.

By night, this brave band of heroes dons their magic pyjamas, and set out to face fiendish villains to stop them messing with your day so you can arrive at school on time and attend everyday!