Attendance

Attendance Officer is Miss C Walters.

Our Mission

To provide the very best education for all our pupils and support for our staff to ensure every child leaves our academy with everything they need to reach their full potential. We promise to do everything we can to give our children the very best education that gives them the best opportunity to succeed in life.

Please click the following link to see the attendance Traffic-Light-System

Attendance:

If your child is unable to attend school you must contact the school office on the first day of absence and provide a reason for your child’s absence before 9.00am

  • All pupils attendance is monitored by school staff and the education welfare officer (EWO).
  • EWO meets weekly with school to monitor children whose attendance is under 90%
  • Children whose attendance is below 90% will be monitored closely and parents/carers will be informed. They will then have a chance to discuss this with the school and EWO.
  • Legal action may be taken by the Local Authority if attendance does not improve sufficiently.

Persistent Absentees:

Children with attendance of 90% and below are called Persistent Absentees and are subject to rigorous monitoring. This includes weekly one-to-one meetings with the Attendance Officer using the traffic light system bar charts, where children are encouraged to improve their attendance and move from red to green, this is proving to be successful throughout school.We will not routinely authorise absence for these children. If their attendance does not improve by working with school they will be refereed to the Education Welfare Services.

Authorised and Unauthorised Absence:

Authorised:

  • All absences need to be authorised or unauthorised by school.
  • Letters need to be provided to the office when a child has been absent in order to authorise the absence.
  • Parents should call the school office before 9.00am on the child’s first day of absence. If this is not done the school will call home.
  • If the school is unable to get into contact with you a letter will be sent home with your child, when they return to school; these are called absence letters. You will then have your opportunity to explain the reason for the absence.

Unauthorised:

  • If telephone calls and absence letters are not received by school within 7days of the child’s absence then the absence will be marked as unauthorised.
  • If children are absent for more time than is required for the illness, then the rest of the time they have off school will be markes as unauthorised.
  • If you do not provide the school office with medical letters or doctors notes for appointments taken during school time they will be marked as unauthorised.

Unauthorised absence includes time absent from school for:

  • Car breakdown.
  • Getting up late.
  • Holidays
  • Hospital visits/medical appointments NOT relating to the child.
  • Looking after another family member.
  • Looking after the house.
  • Unapproved sporting events.
  • Unwillingness to come to school.
  • Waiting in for trades people.
  • Wet weather.

Lateness:

It is very important that your child arrives to school on time. The first bells rings at 8.40am the second bell rings at 8.50am. If your child arrives at school after the second bell, they must be brought to the office for their late mark. Children who are late miss an important part of their lesson, as well as disrupting other children. Teaching starts at 9.00am prompt. Any child arriving after this time will be marked with a code L.  Registers close at 9.30am, any child arriving after this time will be marked with a code U. This is classed as an unauthorised absence and does affect your child’s attendance and can result in the Education Welfare Service being involved.

Holidays during term time

North Walsall Primary Academy’s policy is not to authorise holidays in term time, unless there are exceptional circumstances.If you decide to take your child out of school during term time, it will be classed as an UNAUTHORISED HOLIDAY and the Education Welfare Officer will be Informed. Legal action is taken for poor school attendance as well as unauthorised holiday. Fixed penalty notices are also issued for unauthorised holidays.

If you are considering taking your child out of school for a family holiday please see attachment Requesting Leave in Term Time