BBC Education
BBC Education
Attendance
Attendance Matters
To report an absence – please contact the school office before 08.30am
Telephone: 01425 652039 Email: attendance@burgate.hants.sch.uk
"Central to raising standards in education and ensuring all pupils can fulfil their potential is an assumption so widely understood that it is insufficiently stated – pupils need to attend school regularly to benefit from their education. Missing out on lessons leaves children vulnerable to falling behind. Children with poor attendance tend to achieve less in both primary and secondary school." DFE November 2016
The government expects schools and local authorities to:
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Promote good attendance and reduce absence, including persistent absence.
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Ensure every student has access to full-time education to which they are entitled.
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Act early to address patterns of absence.
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Parents to perform their legal duty by ensuring their children of compulsory school age who are registered at school attend regularly.
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All students to be punctual to their lessons.
For a student to reach their full potential, both academically and pastorally, a high level of school attendance is essential. It is our duty to constantly strive to achieve a goal of 100% attendance for all students. Every opportunity will be used to convey to students and parents/carers the importance of regular and punctual attendance. It is vital that your child is at school, on time, every day, unless the absence is unavoidable. The routines and patterns children develop around attendance and punctuality at school are the same as the expectations of any future employer in the world of work. There is a direct correlation between high attainment, confidence with peers and adults, future aspirations and good attendance.
This attendance procedure is in line with our Burgate Primary Cluster Attendance Policy.
Promoting & Supporting Good attendance
The foundation for good attendance is a strong relationship between the school, parents/carers and the child.
To help us all focus on this we will challenge our students to have attendance of over 95%. We will always celebrate good attendance with termly rewards and house points. Statistics show that there is a direct link between under-achievement and attendance below 95%. If you have any concerns around your child’s attendance, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s tutor, in the first instance, or email attendance@burgate.hants.sch.uk
Punctuality & Appointments
School starts promptly at 08.30 and the register is taken by 08.35. The registers close at 08.45, students arriving between 08.35 and 08.45 will be marked as “Late before the register closes”. Those arriving after 08.45 will be marked as “late” and recorded as an “Unauthorised Absence”
All “lates” are monitored by the Head of Year and the Attendance Welfare Officer. Persistent lateness to school is treated seriously and parents will be contacted directly to address these issues. Students arriving late after 08.45 must sign in at the school office. This is a safeguarding protocol.
Where possible we request that dental and doctor’s appointments are arranged out of school hours or during the holidays. If this is not possible, please provide a copy of the appointment letter and give to your child’s tutor in advance, in order to authorise the absence.
Unauthorised Absences & Legal Information
As a school, the Burgate has good attendance and we work closely with students and parents to ensure attendance is closely monitored. However, we are required to work with Hampshire County Council to take legal action to tackle poor attendance or unauthorised absences.
Schools are only able to authorise absence from school in exceptional circumstances. In making a request for an authorised absence from school, you will need to explain why the circumstances are exceptional. There is no legal right to authorise absence for a family holiday.
If you take your child out of school without permission the absence will be unauthorised and we will consider legal action. Legal measures, in the form of a fixed penalty notice, can be taken for an unauthorised holiday absence of 10 or more sessions ( 5 days) over a 100 session period.
As from September 2015, we are also required to issue a fixed penalty notice if a child has any unauthorised absence during formal examinations, assessments or testing where dates have been published or communicated in advance. This is in line with Hampshire guidelines.
The penalty notice fine would be:
£60 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days, rising to £120 per parent, per child if paid between 21-28 days.
If the fine is not paid within 28 days, you may be prosecuted under Section 444(1) of The Education Act 1996. If prosecution takes place, the maximum fine is £1,000 per parent, per child. This reflects the seriousness of unauthorised absences from school.
In the case of any absence, students are required to catch up on their learning.
Remember as parents you can check your child’s attendance and homework commitments on SIMS Parent App
For more information and guidance please refer to our Attendance Policy and the links to the National Guidance for parents. More information is available here on Penalty Notices for Non-Attendance.
Download our form to Request authorised absence from school due to exceptional circumstances