Attendance – Every day at school counts!

Evidence shows that good attendance is key to children being successful at school. Our aim is to have all children in school learning for at least 97% of the year.

At Caldecott we also celebrate good attendance every week by awarding ‘Golden Time’ to the class with the best attendance. We also pick one child with 100% attendance from the previous week to receive a certificate and prize in assembly. 

Why?

There are 190 school days in a year. Attendance less than 90% means a pupil is missing 20 days or more of school a year, or ½ a day a week. This makes it harder for a pupil to make progress and have success.

With your help and support we can ensure we are doing our best for all the children at Caldecott.

Some reminders:  

• Please call the school to leave a message on the absence line, or send an email to admin.2605@caldecott.oxon.sch.uk.

• If your child is late, you need to come in to school to provide a reason.

• Registers are taken at 8.55am and so we encourage you to have your child in school at 8.45. Lateness 30 minutes after the registers have opened is an unauthorised absence unless there is an acceptable reason.

• Medical appointments should be made out of school hours where possible. Siblings should not be removed from school for appointments. If an appointment is in the afternoon, your child should attend school for the morning and for the afternoon if the appointment was in the morning.

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Current Attendance procedures:

It is the policy of this school not to authorise absence for holidays during term time.  While advance permission can be given in exceptional circumstances, this is rare and can only be granted by me in my capacity as Headteacher.  Any such requests should be addressed to me by completing an exceptional leave form before the absence is taken and you should not assume that permission will be granted.

Where a request has not been made and a pupil is absence from school, the school reserves the right to challenge parents/carers and record the absence as unauthorised accordingly.

In accordance with the school attendance policy, if permission is not given by me for term time absence, the following action will be taken:

A referral will be made to the County Attendance Team to investigate the absence further and you may be liable for a penalty notice.  This is a fine of £60 per parent/carer for each child’s absence from school, rising to £120 per parent/carer per child if not paid within 21 days.  The issuing of such a notice gives you the opportunity to pay a penalty fine instead of being prosecuted for an offence under Section 444A of the 1996 Education Act.

Penalty notices are intended as an alternative to prosecution.  If the penalty is not paid in full within 28 days, the usual consequence is a Magistrates County prosecution for the underlying section 444(1) Education Act 1996 offence of failure to secure regular school attendance.  If further instances of unauthorised absence occur despite a penalty notice having previously been issued, or if the child’s attendance is a wider matter of concern, the local authority may consider prosecution in any event.

Penalty notices may be issued for the following unauthorised absences:

• Unauthorised holidays taken – minimum 6 sessions/60 sessions
• Unauthorised absences taken – minimum 6 sessions/60 sessions

Session = morning/afternoon, 2 sessions per day, 6 sessions = 3 days.