Attendance & Absence
EVERY MOMENT MATTERS TOWARDS YOUR CHILD'S SUCCESS.
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.
- (School Attendance Guidance for Maintained Schools, Academies, Independent Schools and Local Authorities. DfE July 2019)
Our School Day.
The school gate at the front of school will open at 07:45 ready for the start of breakfast club.
All school gates will open at 08:45, as well as classroom doors, and will close promptly at 09:00.
On arrival at school, children will go straight into class through their allocated entrance.
Children who arrive late need to ring the intercom system on the car park gate.
All year groups start at the same time. Classroom doors will open at 08:45 for pupils to complete their morning task. Registration opens at 08:55 and we ask that children are in class at the start of their registration time.
The registration period closes at 09:30. However, if a child arrives after 09:05, they are deemed late.
Any child arriving earlier than 08:45 will be directed to Breakfast Club. Parents/carers will be then charged for this.
The school day ends at 15:30. Any child not collected after 15:40 will be directed to an after-school club. Parents/carers will be then charged for this.
We do expect pupils to arrive and to be collected punctually at the start and end of each day.
It is vital that pupils attend school, on time, every day in order to gain the greatest benefit from their education and reach their full potential.
We aim for all our students to achieve 97% and above attendance in school and for our whole school attendance to be 97%, which is above the national average of 96%.
As parents / carers, you have a legal obligation to ensure your child attends and remain in school. We do appreciate that there are times when children cannot attend school due to illness or other circumstances.
attendance leaflet one education pdf.pdf
Policy and Guidance.
Our updated Attendance Policy can be found here: Statutory Key Information & Policies | Bolsover Church of England Junior School (bolsover-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk)
Working together to improve school attendance (Published May 2022. Applies from September 2022)
Summary table of responsibilities for school attendance (Published May 2022. Applies from September 2022)
Pupil with Health Needs Unable to Attend School
Penalty Notices - Advice for Parents and Carers.
School Attendance - The Law - September 2019.
Derbyshire County Council School Term Dates 2022 to 2023
Attendance Lead.
The Attendance lead in school is Mrs Amanda Slaney.
Telephone: 01246 822324, or via our school email at info@bolsover-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk.
Attendance at school
Children enjoy coming to school and this is reflected in our attendance figures, which are regularly above the national average.
All children should be in school every day, unless:
- they are too ill to attend
- they have a medical appointment that cannot be made out of school hours (children should attend school beforehand and/or return immediately afterwards wherever possible)
- the absence has been agreed in advance with the school.
Attendance is monitored every term and if any concerns are raised, we will contact you and, on occasion, arrange a meeting to discuss your child’s attendance.
On-going medical condition – if your child is regularly absent from school due to an ongoing medical condition, we will require evidence of GP/hospital appointments. This can be something as simple as an appointment text/letter.
Leave of Absence from School.
All requests for a leave of absence in term time should be made three weeks in advance by completing the ‘Leave of Absence Request Form’, which is available from the school reception.
Holiday requests during term time – holidays will not be approved during term time. If a child is absent from school due to a holiday, you may be liable for a fine.
Leave of absence for exceptional circumstances – if you feel your child needs to be absent from school for a reason that is an exceptional circumstance, please complete a request form which can be obtained by emailing info@bolsover-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk or by requesting a copy from the school office. A decision as to whether the absence will be authorised or not, will be made by Mrs Bailey following our school attendance policy (which can be found on our website). You will be notified of the outcome via letter through Class Dojo.
Please be aware that absence requests are only authorised in exceptional circumstances.
The school’s response to attendance issues
- The school will identify and monitor pupils whose attendance gives cause for concern.
- Appropriate strategies will be employed in order to address the attendance of individual pupils.
- The school will record all attendance related incoming messages from parents, and notify the class teacher in class registers.
- The school will endeavour to contact home on the first day of absence in cases where no satisfactory reason has been received to explain a pupil’s absence.
- When a pupil is absent and contact cannot be made by telephone, a standard letter may be sent home or a health and well-being home visit carried out.
- Where school are unable to ascertain a reason for a pupil’s absence from school, school will contact Derbyshire Police and request a Safe and Well check is carried out.
- Where the school’s procedures have failed to contact the home or poor attendance persists, the school may make a referral to the EWO, who will liaise with the relevant staff.
- School and year group attendance data will be collected, analysed and monitored regularly. The school will respond to any areas of concern identified (see flow charts for our attendance steps).
Frequently Asked Questions about Attendance.
Q. What is a good attendance percentage?
A: Ideally, we would like pupil’s attendance to be as close to 100% as possible but understand that at times, we all get sick. The national average attendance rate for school attendance is 96% so anything above this would be classed as good attendance.
Q. What is poor attendance?
A. Anything below 96% attendance is worrying as your child has less chance of success and reaching their full potential. It makes it harder for your child to progress if they are missing key learning opportunities.
Q. What will happen if my child's attendance falls below 96%?
A. We monitor pupil’s attendance every week, every term and every year. If your child’s attendance becomes a concern, we will send you a letter informing you of their attendance and that we are monitoring it. We will work with you to support you in improving your child’s attendance at school. Unfortunately, if your child’s attendance does not improve you may be invited to an Attendance Meeting at the school and may receive a Penalty Notice due to your child’s persistent absence from school.
Q. Isn't my child entitled to 10 days holiday or odd days off for trips?
A. No.
Parents have a legal obligation to ensure that their child receives efficient full-time education. We strongly urge parents to avoid taking family holidays during term-time as school can only approve leave in ‘exceptional circumstances’.
Term-time holidays are NOT classed as exceptional circumstances.
If you decide to take your child out of school during term-time and your leave has been unauthorised by the Headteacher, you will be served with a penalty notice by Derbyshire County Council Education Welfare Office. A fine of £120 per pupil per adult will be issued and should be paid within 28 days. If the fine is paid within 21 days, the payment reduces to £60 per pupil per adult.
Did you know there are 175 non-school days per year to spend on family time, visits, holidays, shopping trips etc.?
Q. What is meant by genuine medical reasons to be absent?
A. Diarrhoea, sickness, childhood ailments e.g. measles, chicken pox, extremely high temperatures are classified as genuine illnesses. Children should not stay home if they have minor coughs, colds, tummy aches and headaches. If your child is too poorly to remain at the school. The school will contact you. Please remember that even absence due to genuine medical reasons still affect a child's attendance.
Q. What should I do if my child is absent?
A. Contact the school on the first day and subsequent days of absence to explain their absence. You can do this by texting the School Absence Line on 07713981027 or by telephoning the school reception on 822324. If your child is absent with no reason provided, school will contact you to carry out a health and well-being check, which may include a home visit.
Q. What should I do if my child has a medical appointment?
A. When you know in advance that your child will be absent from school for a medical appointment, it would be helpful to let school know before the date of the appointment. You can do this in person, by telephone or via Class Dojo. However, we do request that routine medical appointments and dental appointments are booked out of school hours. We do understand that specialist appointments are allocated with little option but we would appreciate every effort is made to ensure your child does not miss any of their time at school.
Q. Do you require proof of medical and dental appointments in school time?
A. We will request proof of any appointment such as an appointment card or letter. Please respect that we are required to ask for proof by the Local Authority, as without evidence your child’s absence will not be authorised.
Q. Will my child be rewarded for their good attendance?
A. Yes. Every week the class with the highest attendance wins the Attendance Trophy and is awarded an additional 15 minutes play time. At the end of each term, the children who have achieved 100% Attendance are recognised in Collective Worship and awarded a certificate. At the end of the school year, the children with an attendance of 100% all year are entered into a prize draw for lots of amazing prizes.
School Data
The national target for schools is to have whole school attendance over 96%.
Our school whole school target for attendance is 97%
Our attendance figures for the academic year 2022-23 are 93.73% (94%).
Our attendance figures for the academic year 2021-22 are 93.82% (94%). (Figures include Covid-19 closure data).
Our attendance figures for the academic year 2020-21 are 93.19% (93%). (Figures include Covid-19 closure data).
Our attendance figures for the academic year 2019-20 are 95.88% (96%). (Figures apply from September to Covid-19 closure).
Our attendance figures for the academic year 2018-19 were 96.99% (97%).
Attendance Targets
From the start of this term, each class has been set an Attendance Target to achieve and ideally beat. When the Attendance Target is met, the class will be issued with a golden ticket.
The golden ticket entitles the class to 15 minutes of reward time each week.
Secondly, running alongside the Class Reward Attendance Targets will be an Attendance League. At the end of each week, every class will earn points depending on your weekly attendance percentage.
Weekly Attendance Data
3SC %
3ML %
4AJ %
4BR %
4LE %
5RS %
5JB %
6MB %
6KA %
6VA %
Cumulative whole school attendance from September 2022 is: 93.73%
This weeks whole school attendance is: 94.66%
CONGRATULATIONS to our Golden Ticket winners this week is Holmes Class.
Rewards and targets
- Weekly, the highest attendance winning class are awarded the Attendance Trophy.
- Weekly, classes who have equalled or exceeded their class target are awarded a weekly Golden Ticket.
- Weekly attendance league is updated and shared with pupils, staff and parents.
- Incentives are available to promote and maintain good attendance levels: a certificate is awarded for 100% and 97% attendance at the end of each school half term.
- Attendance targets are set for whole classes and individuals.
- Termly vouchers are awarded for ‘lucky draw’ of 100%.
- Yearly ‘attendance rewards’ are awarded to children.