Attendance

Attendance

AdAstra Academy Trust is committed to ensuring that all of our children receive the best education possible and to ensure that this is able to happen we need to work together to ensure that all of our children are in school.

At Barnard Grove Primary School, we work closely with our families to ensure that our children are in school, if children are not in school, they are missing important learning opportunities and time with their friends building relationships and having fun.

Our Attendance Officer is Mrs. Wesson (Assistant Headteacher). If you have any questions, she is always happy to support.

Attendance Matters

If your child is unwell or unable to attend school, please contact school every morning before 9am on 01429 230 300 and let us know the reason for absence.

Working Together to Improve Attendance

Barnard Grove Primary School is legally required to work alongside Hartlepool Local Authority to promote the importance of regular school attendance. We monitor and share absence details with Local Authorities should legal proceedings be considered. Pupils’ attendance is monitored and parents of those who fail to attend the required time may face prosecution. The Government expects all students to have 97% attendance.

Registers are taken every morning and afternoon, and we record if your child is in school. If your child is absent, then school will either mark the absence as authorised or unauthorised. We can only authorise an absence if you let us know the reason and if your child is too unwell to attend school or has a medical appointment that can not be taken after school or in the holidays.

If your child’s attendance falls below 96%, you will receive a letter to make you aware that we are closely monitoring attendance and to offer support to help you to improve this. If attendance does not improve you might be invited into school to a meeting to put in place a plan so we can work together to make sure that your child is in school.

If attendance does not improve then we will refer this to Hartlepool Local Authority and a formal plan will be put in place to support you to improve your child’s attendance. If this does not happen, it could lead to fines and/or court action.

Please be assured that we are here to support you. If you need help to improve your child’s attendance, please call school and ask for Mrs. Wesson.

Getting to School on Time

It is important that your child arrives at school on time every day. If they are late, they are not settling into school with the rest of their friends and this can leave children feeling unsettled and not as ready to learn as they could be. If children miss a few minutes each day this can quickly add up to lots of days and lots of missed learning opportunities.

Term Time Holidays

To ensure that your child has good attendance please can we ask that any holiday is booked during school holidays

If you are planning on taking your child on a term time holiday you must complete a Leave of Absence Form; due to new government guidance, schools cannot authorise term time holidays.

If you choose to take your child on a holiday during term time, school must make the Local Authority aware and this could result in a fine or court action.

How can you support your child to have good attendance.

Avoid taking holidays during term time. Holidays count as absence.

Arrange non-urgent medical and dental appointments after school. If the appointment has to be in school hours then the pupil must attend part of that day. They should not have a full day off to attend an appointment

If your child is worried about anything at school contact your child’s class teacher as soon as possible so you can work together to reassure your child.

Chat to your child about what they have done at school each day so that they enjoy sharing positives about school and how much they are learning.

Policies and statutory guidance

Attendance Policy 2024

Working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024) (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Summary table of responsibilities for school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024) (publishing.service.gov.uk)