Attendance

Attendance at The Heritage Coast Federation
 
We are sure that like us, you as parents and carers realise the importance of attendance and punctuality. At The Heritage Coast Federation we have been working hard to try raise attendance levels and to reduce instances of lateness. Our target for whole school attendance is 96%, however we are currently below this level with term time holidays making a significant impact on this overall figure. It is essential that we improve school attendance and reverse our trend. The Heritage Coast Federation fully recognise its responsibilities to ensure pupils are in school and on time, therefore having access to learning for the maximum number of days and hours. Although parents/carers have the legal responsibility for ensuring their child’s good attendance, the Headteacher and Governors at our school work together with other professionals and agencies to ensure that all pupils are encouraged and supported to develop good attendance habits.
 
Children who are persistently late or absent soon fall behind with their learning .Children who are absent from school frequently develop large gaps in their learning which will impact on their progress and their ability to meet age related learning expectations. A child whose attendance drops to 90% each year will, over their time at primary school, have missed two whole terms of learning.
 
There is much evidence to show that good attendance plays a vital role in helping your child to achieve their potential. We also know that poor attendance can lead to other problems for children.

Staff Roles

Our staff are here to support you with your childs attendance. Below are the key staff members for school attendance:

Lead Attendance Officer: Mrs Helen Thompson 

Attendance Officer: Mrs Katrina Dixon 

Attendance Officer: Miss Alison Dykes

Admin for Attendance (Fylingdales): Mrs Stephanie Glasby

Admin for Attendance (Hawsker): Mrs Rachael Jefferson  

 
Children who do not attend school regularly are more likely to:

  • Fall behind in their school work
  • Find it difficult to make and keep friends
  • Be unhappy at school
  • Display negative behaviours so others cannot see that they are finding work challenging
  • Learn poor attendance habits that follow through into secondary school and employment

 
Poor punctuality can also disadvantage children in many ways:

  • Being frequently late for school adds up to lost learning- for example arriving 15 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year
  • When children are late they find it harder to settle into the routine of the day
  • When children arrive late they often miss key messages and teaching which continues to have an effect on their learning for the rest of the lesson or day
  • Poor punctuality disrupts the class and is embarrassing for the child
  • Your child being late disturbs the learning of the whole class

Our Attendance Policy is currently under review and is being developed by a YCEP Partnership.

 
Getting here on time every day really is important in helping your child to become a happy and successful learner. Every day really does count!
 
 

Click to Download Whitby-Schools-Attendance-Q-and-A [pdf 608KB] Click to Download
Attendance illness

Do I need to keep my child off school?

This guide shows when you should keep your child off and when it is safe for them to come back to school after an illness. We understand that some children will react diffrrrently to illness, this information is for guidance only, parents should always consult a medical professional if they have any concerns about their child. 

Further guidance from the NHS can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

 

Attendance Facts

  • All schools must report their termly attendance percentages to the Local Authority
  • If your child is not in school s/he does not reach his/her learning potential
  • Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure that their child receives a full time education
  • Parents can be issued with fixed penalty notices (fines) for failing to ensure that their child attends school regularly- this includes taking children out of school on holiday
  • The local authority has the power to prosecute parents in the magistrates court for the offence of failing to ensure their child attends school regularly.
  • If your child arrives after 9.15 we mark them as having unauthorised absence for the whole morning- arriving after 9.15 once in a week brings their attendance down to 90% for that week

 
How can you help your child attend school regularly?
 

  • Talk to your child about school
  • Make sure your child understands why school is important
  • Show your child that you are interested in what they have done at school
  • Get everything ready for school the night before
  • Arrange appointments before or after school or during the school holidays
  • Bring your child to school for the time before or after an appointment wherever possible
  • Take holidays during school holidays and not during term time
  • Set your alarm and your child’s alarm clock- see who can beat the clock!
  • Only grant days at home for genuine illness (you will know!)
  • If your child is slightly under the weather, still send them into school- children often start feeling better as the day goes on and they get busy, and if the school is worried they will call
  • Children can attend school if they are taking medicines –speak to the school office
  • We can give children calpol, ibuprofen and anti-biotics with your permission

 
Please also ensure that you:
 

  • Keep in touch with school staff- we may be able to support you with advice, rewards for your child or other incentives
  • Contact school on the first day if absence if your child is unable to attend for whatever reason and keep in contact with school on subsequent days of absence
  • Give up to date contact details to school
  • Attend attendance meetings if you are invited to do so- in these meetings we can agree an action plan so that school, parents and children can work together to improve attendance

Please help us and your child by ensuring their attendance remains above 96%, allowing them to achieve their potential. Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow.

 
Key Information
 
Punctuality / Lateness

  • Children arrive on the playground at 8.45am and go into class at 8.50 am. Registration is completed by 9.00 a.m. Children arriving after 9.00am will be recorded as late. Children arriving after 9.15 am and without prior warning will be marked as absent for the morning session and this will be recorded as unauthorised.
  • We will conduct ‘lateness checks’ every week and any child who has been late more than 6 times during a three-week period will take a ‘late letter’ home to his/her parents. If the lateness persists, further letters will be sent home to remind parents of the importance of being on time for school and, failing that, a referral will be made to the Early Help Team. 

Absence Due to Illness

  • If your child is ill, please contact the School Office by 9.15 a.m. and explain exactly what is wrong with your child. Please make sure you phone school every day your child is absent.
  •  If the School Office does not receive information regarding the absence, it is recorded as unauthorised. Ultimately the school is responsible for deciding if the absence is acceptable, and therefore authorised, or not. You may be asked to provide medical certificates if your child has a poor attendance record.

Medical Appointments

  • Whenever possible, routine medical and dental appointments must be made outside school time.

Exceptional Leave

  • If a child needs to be absent for any reason other than illness, such as a bereavement, family illness or crisis, parents must first seek permission from the Headteacher. Please note that family illness cannot be used as an excuse to leave school early.
  • Forms requesting Exceptional Leave are available from the School Office or can be downloaded from the school website.
  •  Mistakes about term dates will not be accepted as a reason for absence from school, as the school publishes these in every Newsletter and they are on the school website.
  •  Under no circumstances will leave in term time be approved for families to take advantage of cheaper fights.
  •  If exceptional leave has been granted once before, it is unlikely to be granted again.

 
Holidays during Term-Time

  • The Regulations referred to earlier, which came into effect on 1st September 2013, make it clear that the Headteacher may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Please note that parents do not have the legal right to take children out of school for holidays.
  • Headteachers cannot authorise any holiday during term-time and any such absence may result in a Fixed Penalty Notice (fine) being issued by the North Yorkshire County Council Education. Please note that if a child’s attendance drops to 85% and this includes more than 4.5 days of unauthorised absence in any six- week period, a Fixed Penalty Notice may be issued.
  •  The school will not give homework to children who leave school to go on holiday.

Concerns about Absence
 
I would like to draw your attention to the table below, we are currently updating our policy on attendance and once complete we will be using this method to communicate pupils attendance with parents.

 

Green Group No Concern - The child attends between 96% - 100% of the time.
Yellow Group Concern - The child attends between 95% - 93% of the time. A letter will be sent from school to inform parents that their child’s attendance had dropped below the national average.
Amber Group Risk of Underachievement - The child attends between 93% - 90% of the time.
Letter 2 will be sent from school to inform parents that their child’s attendance has dropped and the family may be invited to a meeting with the Headteacher / Assistant Headteacher to look at how we can support to improve attendance
Pink Group Severe risk of Underachievement - The child attends between 89% and 85%. Parents will be asked to meet the Headteacher/Assistant Headteacher to agree an ‘Individual Attendance Action Plan’ in order to improve the child’s attendance. The school may refer the case to the Early Help Team for support.
Red Group Extreme Concern - The child attends less than 85% of the time. The case will be referred to the NYCC Welfare Service. The Parents will be at risk of being issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice if the absences are unauthorised.