Attendance & Punctuality
At Meadowside Community Primary and Nursery School we expect 100% attendance from our whole school community: pupils, teachers and support staff too. However, some absences can’t be avoided, such as: serious illnesses or unavoidable hospital appointments. We may ask you to provide evidence of upcoming medical appointments or treatments.
The Welfare Team along with help from the school admin will be focusing on supporting you to ensure that your child’s attendance is as high as possible this could mean:
* Increased attendance meetings in school with parents to track attendance and make improvements provide support.
* Local Authority Attendance Officer meetings to offer support to improve attendance and avoid Fast Track Prosecution.
* Home visits to provide support and strategies to improve attendance.
* School nurse/health visitor support.
* Early Help Assessments where needed/applicable.
Celebrating Good Attendance
We encourage good attendance in school. For example, 100% certificates are awarded to children who have had no absences at the end of each half term. We celebrate children who have 100% attendance for the entire year by presenting them with a certificate and a special reward. Last year it was a special trip to Waterstones where the children took part in a treasure hunt, then chose several new books before heading off to White Lace Cakes for ice-creams and cakes!
Absence Procedure
If your child is unable to attend school, it is your duty to contact the school before 8:30am to inform the office staff.
Main Office Contact:
– 01925 632705 – Select option 1 to report your child’s absence.
This procedure will need to be followed each day that your child is absent.
As this will be before the schools working hours, you will be required to leave a message on the school’s answer machine — The office staff will receive all messages and follow up accordingly.
Alternatively, you can send a Class Dojo message to a member of the office team reporting the reason that your child(ren) will be absent from school.
We are required to follow up any unexplained absences.
This will be followed up via a phone call to parents/guardians, or, in some instances, a home visit will be carried out.
Persistent Absence
Every term we report attendance data to the School Governors.
Attendance figures which fall below 90% are regarded as Persistent Absence. At this point, our team will meet with you, set attendance targets and provide support and advice where it’s needed.
90% is also the threshold for referral to the Local Authority for Persistent Absence. Although penalty notices are not issued in Warrington, there is a clear process in place for challenging poor school attendance which can lead to fast track prosecution in magistrate’s court. We work very closely with our Local Authority Attendance Officer, Nicola Whyte, and regularly review attendance and punctuality.
Children who are too ill to come to school or may pass infection to others should not attend. When children are absent from school we ask parents to inform the school office by 9.00am on the first day of absence to inform us why they are not in school. We contact parents if we don’t hear from you.
Mrs Stokes and Miss Churton monitor attendance and punctuality everyday; should you have any concerns about your child’s attendance please speak to either of them. They are available every morning on the school playground from 8.40am or telephone school for an appointment.
Do You Know Your Child’s Attendance Figures?
How does your child compare?
| Attendance during one school year | Equals this number of days absent | Which is approximately this many weeks absent | Which means this number of lessons are missed |
| 100% | 0 days | 0 weeks | 0 lessons |
| 95% | 10 days | 2 weeks | 40 lessons |
| 90% | 19 days | 4 weeks | 80 lessons |
| 80% | 38 days | 8 weeks | 160 lessons |
| 70% | 57 days | 11.5 weeks | 230 lessons |
Frequent absence can add up to a considerable amount of lost learning and can seriously disadvantage your child in adult life.
Leave of absence will be given for attendance at medical or dental appointments or for examinations in music, dance etc. However, where possible such appointments should be made outside of school.
Punctuality
If your child is late into school this may also result in an absent mark. Punctuality is also very important as it can disrupt your child and other children’s learning. Therefore we will also be checking punctuality regularly.
Why is punctuality so important?
Being on time gives your child a GREAT START to the day, putting them in a positive frame of mind to make the mostof the day’s learning and activities. Punctuality is linked to good attendance, and as we know, good attenders have more opportunities and therefore achieve more!
At Meadowside, we also provide all of our children with a Free Breakfast Snack at during morning registration!
Types of Lateness
Registers close at 8.55am. Persistent lates will lose this time and be unauthorised from 9.30am.
Late before register closes: Your child is a few minutes later, but they have missed the opportunity to say hello to and play with friends. They are likely to feel unsettled and embarrassed as they start morning lessons.
Late after register closes: This counts as an unauthorised absence and will show on your child’s attendance record. Not only has your child missed the chance to meet with their friends before school, they are likely to have missed the start of lessons and could feel un-settled, embarrassed and much less confident than their class as the lesson moves on.
School doors open at 8.40am, with the morning register at 8.50am. School is open for a total of 32 hours per week.
Did you realise even a few minutes late soon adds up to missing days?
| Minutes late per day | Equivalent of Missing |
| 5 minutes | 3.4 school days a year |
| 10 minutes | 6.9 school days a year |
| 15 minutes | 10.3 school days a year |
| 20 minutes | 13.8 school days a year |
| 30 minutes | 20.7 school days a year |
Please ensure your child arrives to school on time every day.
Holidays in Term Time
Following the recent High Court ruling regarding holidays in term time, the following is the Local Authority’s position for all Warrington schools:
‘Holidays will be unauthorised except for very few due to specific circumstances. The majority of requests will not be agreed by headteachers and so will be marked as an unauthorised absence.’
As a school, we fully appreciate the financial constraints that some families face when booking holidays. However, there is an expectation that all schools introduce stringent checks to ensure that there is a significant reduction in the number of absences during term time.
Contrary to popular belief, there is NO entitlement to time off for family holidays.
We ask that parents thinking about term time holidays consider the impact on your child’s learning. In order for your child to have the best possible start in life, they need to make the most of every learning opportunity – Every day counts!
If you do take your child out of school, please ensure that you complete an Absence Request Form, in advance.
This is available from the main office or or attached below.
For further help or advice on attendance issues please contact our Welfare Co-ordinator, Mrs Alison Stokes – we may be able to offer support where there are barriers to good attendance and punctuality.
01925 982323
welfare@meadowside.tcat.uk.com
Click here for our school Attendance Policy
