Attendance and Timings of School Day
At Slade, we are committed to ensuring the highest possible school attendance for all its pupils. We understand that all pupils benefit from regular school attendance. To this end we will do all we can to encourage parents/carers to ensure that the children in their care achieve maximum possible attendance and that any problems that prevent full attendance are identified and acted on promptly.
Our aim at Slade is quite simple. We will work alongside parents and families to ensure that pupil attendance is well above the national average. We will do this so that we can ensure that our children have the best possible chance to achieve at school and that they can begin their adult lives with at least the same chances as those others they will be competing with in their future lives of training and employment.
School Day Timings
The school day begins at 8.45am and finishes at:
3.15pm in Nursery, Reception and Key Stage 1.
3.25pm in Key Stage 2, ensuring that all children receive a school week of 32.5 hours.
All gates open at 8.40am and we encourage you to be on the school playground, ready for the doors to open at 8.45am. Doors will close at 8.55am to allow registration and learning to begin promptly; therefore late arrivals will need to be signed in (by a parent/carer) at the main office. All gates will close at 8.55am to allow the school day to begin.
At the end of the school day, gates will open at approximately 3.10pm for EYFS/KS1 and 3.20pm for KS2, once all children are back in class and the playgrounds are clear.
Expectations
We expect that all pupils will:
- attend school regularly
- attend school punctually
- attend school appropriately prepared for the day
We expect that all parents/carers/persons who have day to day responsibility for the children will:
- encourage regular school attendance and be aware of their legal responsibilities
- ensure that the child/children in their care arrive at school punctually prepared for the school day
- ensure that they contact the school whenever the child/children is/are unable to attend school
- contact the school on the first day of the child’s absence and send a note on their return to school
- contact the school promptly whenever a problem occurs that may keep the child away from school.
We expect that our school staff will:
- keep regular and accurate records of attendance for all pupils, twice daily
- monitor every pupil’s attendance
- contact parents as soon as possible when a pupil fails to attend where no message has been received to explain the absence
- follow up all unexplained absences to obtain notes authorising the absence
- contact those families whose child’s attendance has dropped below 90% on a termly basis
- encourage good attendance
- provide a welcoming atmosphere for children; provide a safe learning environment; provide a sympathetic response to any pupil’s concerns
- make initial enquiries of parents/carers of pupils who are not attending regularly, express their concern and clarify the school’s and the Academy’s expectations with regard to regular school attendance
- refer irregular or unjustified patterns of attendance to the Head Teacher, Deputy Head Teacher
Leave in Term Time
The school holiday dates are published a year in advance and holidays in term time are not permitted. If a leave of absence in term time is required for exceptional circumstances, such as a death or serious illness in the immediate family a request for leave of absence form must be completed. The Head Teacher will then decide whether or not to authorise the absences by reference to criteria provided by the LA. Head Teachers, on behalf of the Governors, cannot authorise holiday leave in term time.
Responding to Non-Attendance
When a pupil does not attend school we will respond in the following manner:
- On the first day of absence, for all irregular attendees, if no note or telephone call is received from the parent/carer by 10.00 am the school will endeavour to contact them that day. If the family are not on the telephone, a home visit will be carried out.
- If there is no response, the school will continue to try to contact the parent/carer. If by the end of the second day, there has still been no contact made, the school carry out another home visit and will send a letter of concern to the parent/carer or invite them into the school to discuss their concerns. The school will tell parents that if the absence persists this may result in further action, an application for an Education Supervision order, or court prosecution.
Late Arrivals to School
When a child arrives late at school he/she misses the teacher’s instructions and the introduction to the lesson. The child may also feel embarrassed at having to enter the classroom late. Frequent lateness can add up to a considerable amount of learning lost, and can seriously disadvantage the child.
- 5 minutes late per day equals 3.7 days of teaching lost in a year in KS1 and 3.4 days lost in KS2
- 10 minutes late per day equals 7.4 days
- of teaching lost in a year in KS1 and 6.9 days lost in KS2
- 15 minutes late per day equals 10 days of teaching lost in a year in KS1 and 10.3 days lost in KS2
- 20 minutes late per day equals 14.7 days of teaching lost in a year in KS1 and 13.8 days lost in KS2
- 30 minutes late per day equals 22 days of teaching lost in a year in KS1 and 20.7 days lost in KS2
We strongly urge parents to ensure that their children arrive in school on time.
