Attendance

Every school day counts…attend today, achieve for a lifetime!

The attendance target for Horwich Parish Primary School is 97% because we know that good attendance is one of the keys to successful schooling.

Horwich Parish staff and governors are united in their belief that regular school attendance enables children to maximise the educational opportunities available to them. Excellent attendance helps children to become emotionally resilient, confident and competent adults who are able to realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to their community; utilising their God-given talents.

Horwich Parish Church of England Primary School values all children. We work with families to identify the barriers to achieving and maintaining excellent attendance and offer the right services, at the right time, to resolve difficulties. The Senior Leader Responsible for Attendance (Mrs Mills) and Attendance Officer (Ms Nolan & Mrs Cooke) monitor attendance daily and use attendance data to identify any patterns of concern, whilst also celebrating success.

Attendance concerns will be raised with parents (when reasons are not known by the school, e.g. recovery from an operation). This information may also be shared with the Local Authority. Where we have concerns, or there is a lack of engagement from families to improve attendance, we will follow the school’s staged approach to improving attendance.

Horwich Parish staged approach is child-centred and prioritises support and developing strong working relationships with families. We will use the Early Help process to provide support prior to escalation and consider how we can work with families to enable children to access their right to education.

Attendance figures for each child will be reported to parents termly: as part of the pupils’ termly or Annual Report. Parents can also access their child’s live attendance figure, at any time, by contacting the school office. Every term, the Attendance Team will report on the overall attendance figure, as well as the figures for specific groups, to the Governing body School and Community development committee. These figures will be closely

monitored for support.

Punctuality

Arriving on time is important. Gates open at 8.30am for all classes, doors open at 8.40am and close at 8.50am. Pupils arriving after the 8.50am must enter school via the main school office and report to the office staff.

Illness

On occasions children will be ill and at times so unwell that they cannot attend school. However, we do not want children to miss any aspect of their education where possible.

A general guidance would be that if your child is vomiting, has diarrhoea, has an infectious or notifiable illness, or is running a high temperature then they should be at home. A child must not return to school for 48 hours if they have had sickness or diarrhoea.

Please speak to the office, for advise on prescribed medicines.

If your child has a sore throat, cold or headache, they should be in school. We will always phone you if he/she is unfit to stay in school.

Reporting Pupil Absence

If a child is absent parents must:

Contact the school between 8.00am and 9.00am on the first day of absence. Telephone number 01204 333147. If your ring before 8.00am the office will be closed, you will have the option to leave a message, please ensure you give the reason for your child's absence
Parents can also call into school and report absence to the office, who will arrange for a member of staff to discuss the absence if necessary

How can parents/carers support

To keep requests for your child to be absent to a minimum
To provide medical proof for any period of absence
To ensure your child arrives at school on time and prepared for the day (coat, water bottle, reading book etc)
To take family holidays during the school holiday periods and be aware that requests for holidays during term time will be refused except in exceptional circumstances
To be aware of Curriculum requirements and be especially vigilant with regards to attendance during important academic times e.g. SATS, Phonics screening and multiplication tests
To support their child and recognise their successes and achievements

A STAGED APPROACH

At Horwich Parish, we implement a staged approach to promote excellent attendance for every pupil. Our staged approach is underpinned by six principles:

Expect: a culture where all children can, and want, to be in school
Monitor: analyse attendance data weekly to identify patterns of poor attendance or areas of concern
Listen and Understand: working alongside parents to understand their barriers to attendance; work together to remove them

4. Facilitate Support: empower parents by supporting them to access external support to overcome barriers outside of school

5. Formalise Support: this could include formalising support through an Early Help form or Parenting Contract of Education Supervision Order

6. Enforce: statutory intervention or prosecution to protect the child’s right to an education. This stage will only be implemented when all previous stages of the approach have been exhausted and there is no other option