Attendance
To get the best out of school and all it has to offer, children need to come to school every day and be on time.
Willesborough Infant and Junior School Pupil Attendance
Good school attendance is paramount to every child’s success. Our vision at Willesborough, is for every child to enjoy school, embrace all the opportunities offered and achieve their best potential.
What the Law Says
As a parent, ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school is a legal responsibility and permitting absence from school without good reason can be classed as an offence.
What the Government Says
Government guidelines state that an attendance figure of 90% or less is classed as a ‘persistent absence’. The government identifies a good level of attendance as 95% or more. At Willesborough, we will inform you each term of your child’s attendance rates. We will also notify you in writing if we feel that your child’s attendance needs to be improved.
What Willesborough Says
At Willesborough, we expect children to attend school every day, as long as they are fit and healthy enough to do so.
We understand that there can be tricky times and as ever, we are always on hand to offer you any support that you feel you need. If there are ever any problems, please do not hesitate to come and see us and let us know how we can help.
We have a large pastoral support team; Anna Broad, FLO, Kelly Bowles, FLO and Sarah Pepper, Welfare Support Practitioner. In addition to Anna, Kelly and Sarah, your child’s teachers and teaching assistants are always on hand, as are senior leaders; Fran Rusbridge, Headteacher and Tom Head, Shelly King, Andrea Cooper, Flick Eastwood, Assistant Headteachers.
What the Numbers Tell Us
If your child attends school between 95% and 100%, they are on track to achieve their very best and enjoy all that school has to offer.
Just 10 days absence in a year can take your child’s attendance down to 94.7%
Whilst a figure of 90% sounds good, in reality, this means that your child has missed half a day of school every week or a full month of the year. If a child only attended school for 90% of the year, every year, throughout his or her primary school career, this would equate to one whole school year missed in total.
Sickness
If your child is off school due to illness or an appointment, please contact the school office between 8.30am and 9.30am, explaining why they will not be with us.
If you have not informed us of your child’s whereabouts, we have to contact you as part of our safeguarding process. If your child is going to be in late after an appointment, we ask that you inform us as to whether your child will need a school dinner.
Attendance is monitored regularly by the local authority. We will inform you if your child’s attendance becomes a cause for concern or falls below 95%.
Holiday/Leave of absence from school
The school will not authorise time off for family holidays/events.
Please ask in the office if you require a copy of the updated Attendance policy. Application forms for leave are available from the school office and need to be completed for any days off from school which are not related to illness.
Please click the link below to be taken to our full Attendance Policy:
Celebrating Attendance
Each week in our celebration assembly we announce the class who has the best attendance in the year group. That class will receive a certificate to display in their class.
Children with 100% attendance for the term, will receive a certificate too during our celebration assembly.
