Maintaining good attendance at St Mary's CE First School

Why is good attendance important?

In recent years, much research has been carried out on the effect that poor attendance can have on children’s progress at school and how well they achieve in life. It is essential that these good attendance habits are formed at the beginning of their school journey and St Mary's CE First School makes good attendance a top priority.

We are proud to work with Initio Learning Trust and Dorset Local Authority Inclusion team to support and improve attendance. 

How parents and carers can help: Work together with us.

•  Send your child to school every day, on time, unless they are genuinely ill.

• Avoid taking your child out of school for holidays, trips or visits to family or friends.

• Contact the school office, phone number 01305 263880. Select option 2 to report your child's absence on the first day of absence to explain the reason why your child is away from school.

•  If your child is absent for more than one day, please keep the school informed each day during your child’s absence.

• If your child has a medical or dental appointment, please make them out of school hours if possible. If they are in school hours, please bring in evidence of the appointment so we can keep a record on their file.

• It is important to let the school know if your child has ongoing health problems so that the right support can be put in place.

• Please see our Initio Learning Attendance page here for more information. 

When will absences not be authorised?

The school will not authorise absence for any of the following reasons: holidays, shopping, looking after or visiting other members of the family, minding the house, birthdays, family days out or similar events. 

Family holidays during term time:

The school does not authorise absence for family holidays during the school term unless there are exceptional circumstances. Parents and carers who choose to take their child out of school for holidays should be aware that such absence will be recorded as ‘unauthorised’ on the child’s record and may be subject to a fixed penalty notice. This is a fine, issued by the local authority, at £80  per pupil, per parent. 

Punctuality

It is very important that all children arrive on time. If your child arrives late, they will not be able to come into school via usual morning playground gates but should instead come through the main school entrance.  

If children are regularly late, a parent will be expected to attend a meeting to look at how punctuality can be improved.

Statutory guidance states:

•  Each school day contains two sessions and an attendance mark is awarded for each. 

• Once your child’s attendance figure is below 90% they become a persistent absentee. 

•  If your child is absent due to holiday, a Penalty Notice may be issued.

We appreciate the challenges that some parents face when booking holidays, particularly during the school holidays. However, regular attendance at school is vital in helping children and young people to achieve their full potential and get the best possible start in life.

Further information is available here.