Attendance & Behaviour

Regular attendance

Regular and punctual attendance at school promotes pupils’ well-being, maximises progress in learning and helps pupils reach their potential. The attendance pattern for all children is monitored weekly with the school seeking to work actively with parents to ensure a regular pattern is maintained. One of our basic principles is to celebrate success. Good attendance is fundamental to a successful and fulfilling school experience. It is our duty to promote 100% attendance for all children. For our children to take full advantage of the educational opportunities offered it is vital that our pupils are at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.

All children have the right to an education and we have put in place appropriate procedures to support this. We believe that the most important factor in promoting good attendance is development of positive attitudes towards school and learning.

Good attendance is important because:

• statistics show a direct link between under-achievement and absence below 95%
• regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically
• regular attenders find school routines, school work and friendships easier to cope with
• regular attenders find learning more satisfying
• regular attenders are most successful in transferring between primary school, secondary school, higher education and employment or training

The Governing Body and Head teacher, in partnership with parents have a duty to promote full attendance at school.

Should your child be absent from school:

• Please notify the school office on 0117 353 4760 on the first day of absence before 9am giving the full reasons for your child's absence. 
• If no notification of absence is received, the school office will contact the parents to ascertain the reason.
• Every subsequent day of illness you must also contact the office before 9:00.

In order to maintain a high level of attendance, we request that parents do their utmost to make medical appointments outside of learning hours. Where this is not possible, medical appointments will be authorised. The headteacher is able to authorise absences where it is deemed 'exceptional'.

Sickness & Diarrhoea

Children should not return to school until at least 48 hours after the sickness and diarrhoea has stopped.
By law, schools must record all absences and the reason.

The latest government guidance 'Working Together to Improve School Attendance' (May 2022) sets out clear guidelines for schools to follow. This includes informing the council of absences and issuing fines for 10 or more unauthorised absences. More information can be found here

Procedures

• A parent should complete an application form for term-time leave in good time.  The parent with whom the pupil normally resides must make the application.   
• Leave may only be granted where proper procedures have been followed and the permission given.  
• Tickets and/or other travel arrangements should not be booked prior to discussion with and agreement of the school.
• Parents should not confuse telling the school with having permission.
• Where the school and the parents fail to reach an agreement and the child is then absent from school the absence will be marked as unauthorised. Unauthorised absences are an offence and can be liable to legal action or a fixed penalty fine.  
• Extended absences may put your child’s school place at risk.
• In the event of an emergency when you have to take leave urgently, taking children, then you should inform the school or have the school informed immediately.  Leave of absence cannot be granted retrospectively and evidence other than your word may be asked for.
• Parents are warned that if they take their child out of school without permission the Local Authority has the power to issue Fixed-Penalty Notices in respect of unauthorised absences.
• Penalty notices can be issued to each parent and for each child.  

The impact of being late:

At St Mary Redcliffe CE Primary, we know that we learn best in a calm, orderly environment where we feel safe, happy and confident. Excellent behaviour in the classroom and throughout the school is essential for this. Therefore, we have the highest expectations of the behaviour of all members of our community. We believe that every child has the ability to behave exceptionally well and are committed to supporting them to achieve this. We have established our School Rules to communicate expectations simply and positively.