Attendance At Cawthorne

Cawthorne CE (VC) Primary School fully complies with the new statutory DfE guidance ‘Working Together To Improve School Attendance’ August 2024 alongside BMBC Attendance Policies and procedures.

THE LAW ON SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

The Law entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full time education suitable to their age and any special educational need they may have. It is the legal responsibility for every parent to make sure that their child receives that education by attendance at school or by education otherwise than at a school. Where parents decide to have their child registered at our school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure that their child attends regularly. This means that their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being to ill or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.

OVERVIEW

If our children are to get the greatest benefit from their education at Cawthorne, it is important that they have good attendance and arrive punctually.  As children grow and prepare for their next stages of education and employment they need to see good attendance and punctuality as important qualities that are valued by others and employers. We will do all that we can to encourage good attendance and punctuality in line with the new statutory guidance and policy updates. Where children and parents are not conforming to our high expectations for attendance and punctuality, we will put into place effective strategies to bring about improvement.

Attendance is everyone’s priority. We will provide a concerted effort to secure high attendance and punctuality for all members of our school community. Good attendance begins with school therefore, we will work in partnership with our children and parents collaboratively to remove any barriers to attendance, to build positive relationships and work together to put the right support in place. We will do all that we can to encourage good attendance and punctuality. However, we fully understand that there will be genuine reasons for your child being late or absent from school:

Punctuality

We expect that all children are ready to enter into school at 8:50am. If you have a genuine reason for missing the start of school and your child will arrive after 9am, please contact the School Office to notify us of this and the reason why. Any arrival after 9am will have to go to the School Office to enter into school.

Illness

All illness related absences must be reported to the school Office on the day of the absence.

School Office: 01226 790447

enquiries@cawthorneprimary.co.uk

Please state your child's name. class and specific reason for absence. Please note that school operates a 48 hour timeframe from the last bout for any cases of sickness and/or diarrhoea. This is inline with Barnsley Local Authority policy.

If your child is absent for consecutive days, you will still need to notify the school office for each day of absence.

Medical Appointments

We encourage medical appointments to be undertaken out of school hours. However, we fully understand that this may not be possible. Therefore, if your child has a medical appointment, this must be reported in good time to the School Office.

We also ask that proof of the appointment is shared with the Office prior to the appointment.

In addition, we are also aware that there will be avoidable reasons for your child's absence from school:

Term Time Holidays

Term time holidays are discouraged and will result in lost learning for your child.

All term time holidays are unauthorised and a leave of absence request form must be completed and returned to the School Office before you go on holiday. 

This form can be downloaded here.

DfE does not allow a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance.

If you go ahead with the holiday of five school days or more when unauthorised, you will receive a Fixed Penalty Notice issued through the Local Authority. This will be a £80 fine per parent per child if paid within 21 days. After 21 days it increases to £160 per parent, per child. Non-payment could be referred to the Magistrates Court.

Persistent Absence

Where children and families are not conforming to our high expectations for attendance and punctuality, we will put into place effective strategies to bring about improvement. School staff monitor attendance and punctuality daily. When a child’s attendance begins to present concern, without good medical reason/evidence, parents will be informed and supported to ensure improvements are made.

The school will adhere to the amended Governments education regulations of 2006 as detailed below:

The school and Governing Board do not wish to take legal action against parents/carers for unauthorised absences or incidents of persistent lateness. However, we may consider legal action as we aim to ensure that every child is in school every day so that they can meet their full potential.

Recurring unauthorised absence may lead to a referral to the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) and this can lead to legal interventions and a formal assessment. The unauthorised absence may also result in a Penalty Notice being issued through the local authority.