The link between attendance and attainment is clear:
In 2018/2019, just 40% of KS2 children, who were regularly absent from school (persistent absence), achieved the expected end of KS2 standard in reading, writing and maths, compared with 84% of pupils who were regular school and lesson attendees.
But attendance is important for more than just attainment:
Regular school attendance can help support positive peer relationships, which are instrumental for supporting and promoting mental health and wellbeing.
The education of our children is of the utmost importance to us – to enable every child to achieve their best, they have to be in school. Attendance is very closely monitored so that we can support at the earliest stage.
If you are a parent who would like some support with improving your child’s attendance, please have a conversation with your child’s teacher or Mrs Crane, Mrs Trudgeon or Mrs Harvey.
Our main aim is to support excellent levels of attendance for all children to enable fulfilment of their potential at Kingshill Church School.
Regular attendance at school is essential to each child’s academic success and life-chances. Research links attendance with achievement, indicating that even occasional broken weeks can have a negative effect. We believe that the most important factor in promoting good attendance is the development of positive attitudes towards school. In promoting good attendance, it is also hoped that this will lead to the development of habits of good attendance and punctuality for the future.
We expect all children on roll to attend every day, when the school is in session, as long as they are fit and healthy enough to do so.
We recognise that there remain worries following the Covid Pandemic but the Chief Medical Officer provides some helpful advice in the following letter: Letter to school leaders on mild illness and school attendance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
In addition, the following NHS link will help you to know whether your child can still attend school with a range of medical conditions.
Is my child too ill for school? – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
In seeking the best possible attendance for every child, we seek to work to the following principles.
Key principles:
- We work in partnership with parents.
- High levels of attendance and punctuality levels are promoted and rewarded.
- It is the responsibility of everybody in the school to improve attendance and punctuality.
- Where attendance or punctuality is a cause for concern, steps will be taken to support an improvement.
- Some children find it harder than others to attend school. We will work with children, parents, and other local partners to remove any barriers to attendance.
Unless term time holidays fits one of our exceptional circumstances, they are not authorised.
My child is going to be absent from school, what am I expected to do?
It is critical that parents or carers call us to inform us of any absence. If we do not hear from you on the first day of absence, we will call you to check the reason for the absence. If we cannot make contact with you, we may make a home visit. This is part of our safeguarding procedures.
It is also important to inform us of your child’s absence each and every day they are absent.
Medical Appointments
Please let us know about any medical appointments and please bring in a copy of the appointment letter.
We ask that parents make scheduled Doctors, Optician and Dentist appointments outside of school hours where at all possible.
RECEPTION AGE CHILDREN
It is vital that children develop regular attendance habits at an early age, therefore Kingshill Church School will encourage parents of Reception children who are not yet of compulsory school age, to send their children to every session available to them. If the child is unable to attend for any reason, the parents should inform the school in the same way as with children of compulsory school age.
Children Missing in Education:
Parent(s) and/or carer(s) must ensure their child is in education (Section 7, Education Act 2006).
Parents/Carers usually enrol their child in a school or make suitable provisions to fulfil this statutory requirement. The Education Welfare Service (EWS) fulfils North Somerset County Council’s statutory responsibility in ensuring parents and carers have their child attend school.
When children have missed education for 10 days they may be classed as Children Missing Education and we have a statutory duty to report it, details in our policy and on the North Somerset.gov website below:
School absence | North Somerset Council (n-somerset.gov.uk)
The LA makes suitable checks to identify any child missing from education.
Contact: Education Welfare Service
Email: ewsreferrals@n-somerset.gov.uk
Website : School absence | North Somerset Council (n-somerset.gov.uk)
Did you know…
Your child’s mental health and well being is important to us. We employ a behaviour mentor and are very fortunate to have a Mental Health Support Worker based at our school. Our children also have the benefit of forest school and family forest school.
Our learners also have opportunities to build their self-esteem through responsibilities such as Sports Crew, Librarians, Eco-Councillors, School Councillors and by representing the school in sports and performances. In addition, we hold the power of reading dear – it is the most wonderful opportunity to unlock our thinking and support our well-being. The power of reading is an area of understanding we are working to develop with our children.
In September we remodelled our curriculum and health and well-being was at the heart of this work.
If you would like to know more about how we develop and support well being and mental health, please get in touch.