Attendance, Absence and Illness

At WNA we want all young people at this school to be confident both academically and socially. This will ensure that they succeed in the next stage of their learning. Success at school allows young people to make more choices about their lives, have ambitions about the future, enjoy a wide range of experiences and make lifelong friends.

There are only 190 school days every year. Your child has 175 days off each year.

School isn’t always easy. Most young people have days when they don’t want to go. However, if they aren’t in school they will feel behind in their learning when they return. That can have a big effect on their confidence. They also miss out on shared experiences with friends, which can make them feel left out. This can make school feel even harder and lead to more regular absence.

Our whole school attendance target for every child is 96%

We expect families to:

Ensure that your child arrives at school on time each day at 8:45am.
Let the school know if your child is going to be late, e.g. if a car breaks down, if an urgent appointment has been made.
Be honest with us and understand it is our duty to challenge persistent absence.
Book family holidays during school holiday time.
Encourage school attendance and the value of attending school regularly.
Provide up to date contact numbers and changes of address.
Provide details of at least two contacts for emergency use.
Notify the school when your child is unable to attend, with a reason, on the first day of the absence.
Telephone the school after the first day of absence if the absence is continuing.
Keep the school well informed, especially about circumstances that might mean your child is absent for several days.
Provide medical evidence, if possible, indicating attendance at the dentist, doctor, or optician before the arranged appointment unless an emergency situation arises. This might include an appointment note or an NHS App message. Whenever possible all appointments should be made outside of school hours.
Ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school is a parent/carer’s legal responsibility (Section 444 of the 1996 Education Act) and permitting absence from school that is not authorised by the Head Teacher creates an offence in law.

First Day Response Procedures

We will follow First Day Response (FDR) procedures by:

Contacting you on the first day of absence by telephone/text, to try to ascertain the reason.
Making a home visit if phone calls are unanswered.
Informing any appropriate professionals or agencies working with your child or family.

If your child is still too unwell to attend the following day, you must contact us again before 8.30am to inform us. If we already have concerns about your child’s attendance, we may carry out a home visit even if you have given us a reason for the absence.

Persistent Absence

If your child misses 10% or more of their schooling across a year for whatever reason, whether it is authorised or unauthorised, or a mixture of both, they become a ‘Persistent Absentee.’ Missing 50% or more of school is defined as severe absence.
At this point your child would not be receiving a suitable education and their outcomes will be affected. We will inform you if your child is moving into the category of persistent absence, and your child’s attendance will be monitored. This is because young people can easily get into a habit of missing school. Without help it can rapidly get worse.
It is essential that we avoid the kind of impact that poor attendance can have on your child. If you are facing circumstances which make it difficult to ensure your child’s attendance at school, you should tell us. We will meet with you and provide access to wider support services to help remove barriers to attendance.
We monitor registers to identify pupils with a pattern of absences that may lead to Persistent Absence (PA). Initially we will try to resolve the problem with you. We will agree actions to improve attendance and you will be monitored and asked to sign an attendance contract. However, if the pattern continues, we will make a referral to the Local Authority.

Reluctant attenders/ School Refusal

You should do everything possible to ensure your child attends school. However, if the reason for your child’s reluctance appears to be school based, such as difficulty with accessing the curriculum or bullying, you should discuss this with us at the earliest opportunity and we will do everything possible to resolve it. Remember that issues like this are rarely solved immediately and can only be solved if you work with us to get your child in to school. Supporting your child’s reluctance to attend is likely to make the matter worse.

Penalty Notices and Prosecution

The Local Authority may issue Notices to Improve and penalty notices, or refer to court for prosecution in line with the National Framework where absences were unauthorised and support has been provided but has not worked or been engaged with, or would not have been appropriate in the circumstances of the offence (e.g. an unauthorised holiday in term time).

A penalty notice is an out of court settlement which is intended to change behaviour without the need for criminal prosecution. The threshold is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence. This can be made up of a combination of any type of unauthorised absence, all taken within any 10 school week period which may span different terms or school years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the Summer Term and a further 8 within the Autumn Term).

The Local Authority will only issue 2 penalty notices to the same parent in respect of the same child within a 3-year rolling period and any second notice within that period is charged at a higher rate:

The first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.
A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within those 3 years, alternative action will be taken instead. This will often include considering prosecution.

20 Day Attendance Challenge

Every term, we have an attendance challenge for children from Year 1-Year 6. If your child attends school for at least 19/20 school days (weekend days not included); they will be placed in a prize draw to win a shopping voucher of £10. Our next challenge starts in September.