Attendance

Why is regular school attendance important?

The links between regular attendance, reaching potential attainment and future life opportunities are well researched. For this reason Savile Park encourage good attendance and will be robust in monitoring attendance and take action when attendance falls. By law, all children of compulsory school age (five to sixteen) must receive a suitable full-time education.

Once your child is registered at school, you are legally responsible for making sure that they attend regularly. If your child fails to do so, you risk getting a penalty notice or being prosecuted. You also need to think about the negative impact upon the following:

  • their learning
  • their friendships
  • their self-esteem and confidence.

Savile Park Primary School monitors the attendance of every child in the school and works in partnership with our Schools Educational Welfare Officer. Together they work and support those children and their families who are not attending school without sufficient reason.

90% attendance sounds good, but means that your child misses:

  • one half day each week
  • nearly four weeks every school year
  • over one school year in a school career

Last year our school attendance figure was 95.6%

Our target for this year is 97%

Timekeeping

Timekeeping is also important in the education of your child. If your child is persistently late then they are missing out on important start of lesson.

We work closely with our Educational Welfare Officer to monitor each child’s punctuality, parents who persistently bring their children to school late may be issued penalty notices.

Absence due to Illness

If a child is ill and cannot attend school, parents/carers must telephone the school before 10.00 a.m., and give the precise reason for the absence. If school has had no contact from parents/carers Miss Bradley will continue to try and contact families until we speak to a parent/carer. Failure to inform the school about a child’s absence will result in this being recorded as an unauthorised absence and, in frequent cases, a referral could be made to the Education Welfare Officer.

Please note that children who have frequent occasional days off due to illness (leading to less than 90% attendance) may be referred to the School Nurse and/or parents may be requested to provide medical evidence to explain these absences. If parents are unable to justify regular absences with medical evidence, further absences will also be recorded as unauthorised and may result in a referral to the Education Welfare Officer.

Medical Appointments

Wherever possible, we ask parents to try to make appointments for doctors and dentists before, after school or during the holidays. Where this is impossible, they should inform the School Office, of such an appointment and it will be noted in the register. We will need to see proof of dental or hospital appointments. Children will not be allowed to leave school during the school day unless there is an emergency, in which case the child should be collected personally by the parent or named carer, and the school informed.

Exceptional Leave

If a child needs to be absent for any reason other than illness, such as an interview, examination, bereavement, family illness or crisis, parents must first seek permission from Mrs Boylan. Parents do not have the legal right to take children out of school for holidays. If exceptional circumstances arise where parents decide that time away from school cannot be avoided, then permission must be sought from Mrs Boylan before booking tickets.

Forms requesting Exceptional Leave are available from the School Office at both the Heath and Moorfield sites. If exceptional leave has been granted once before, it is unlikely to be granted again.

If parents take children on a holiday during term time without the school’s permission or, if a child fails to return on the agreed date, the penalties are high:

The school can decide to take that child off roll, which means that parents will have to re-apply for a place at Savile Park. If the school is full, then parents will have to apply to a different school.
The Education Welfare Officer can issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (fine) on behalf of Calderdale Council.

Attendance Letters

These letters are issued each term and detail your child’s current attendance.

Support and Advice

If you require any support or advice with attendance and punctuality, please contact either office to arrange an appointment to see Miss Bradley.