Attendance

Your child's attendance at St Paul’s CE Primary School is very important. If your child is missing lessons, this could affect their learning in the following ways:

Affects pupil’s attainment
Pupils suffer a break in the continuity of their learning or miss important topics
Pupils lack confidence due to the fact that they have missed mid-topic information and are unable to understand or catch up – much of the work missed is never made up, which puts pupils at a disadvantage at exam time
Your child’s results and progress are affected when they are not in school
Disruption to your child’s learning, friendships and social development

Why Good Attendance Matters

As well as being a legal requirement, it also ensures your child has access to the best start in life. Regular attenders usually leave school with more qualifications and access to greater employment opportunities. The more time children spend around other children, the more chance they have of making friends, feeling included, boosting social skills, confidence & self-esteem.

90% attendance may look impressive but it means they miss 19 days of education in a year and risk dropping one grade in their GCSE’s, if this happens each year. It is vital that parents or carers work with schools when a child is near the 10% persistent absence threshold to prevent patterns of absence emerging

Useful Facts

90 % attendance = 19 days absence a year
15 minutes late every day = 10 days of school lost a year
There are 175 days to spend on family time, visits, holidays and appointments
If a child is absent just one day a week, over the course of their school career, they will miss two years of schooling

Who to contact

If you need to talk to some-one about your child’s attendance and punctuality please see Mrs Bish in the office. To report your child’s absence please download the studybugs app, or call the office.

Fixed penalty notices can be requested for:

Persistent late arrival at school (after the register has closed). (6 sessions within a period of 6 school weeks)
Pupils whose attendance has not reached a satisfactory level during a 6 week period following intensive support
Where parents allow their child to be present in a public place during school hours without reasonable justification in a fixed term or permanent exclusion
6 or more sessions of unauthorised absence within a term
All unauthorised holidays taken during term time. As agreed with schools the recommendation is that this is for any unauthorised leave of six sessions or more

See our website for full details of our

attendance policy & term dates for 2021-22

Useful Information from BHCC

Leave of Absence during Term Time - Request Form

leave of absence during term time.pdf