Attendance

Why is coming to school important?

Long Toft Primary School have high expectations of their pupils with regard to attendance and punctuality.

All parents/carers want the best for their children and for them to get on well in life. Having a good education is an important way to ensure that they have the best opportunities in their adult lives. They only get one chance at school, and your child’s future as an adult may be affected by not attending school regularly.

Long Toft Primary School staff are comitted to helping your children reach their full potential. If you or your child are experiencing any issues which may prevent them from having good attendance, please come and speak to us as soon as you can.

When children do not attend school regularly, they may:

• Struggle to keep up with their learning. In a busy school week, it is difficult for schools to find the extra time to help a child catch up. If children build up gaps in their learning each term, or even every school year, they may never have the chance to make the same progress as their friends.
• Miss out on the social side of school life. Poor attendance can affect children’s abilities to make and keep friendships; a vital part of growing up.

Good attendance at school is a key factor in enabling children to reach their full potential.  If your child’s attendance falls below 96%, we will contact you to talk about how we can work together to improve this (those odd days can add up throughout the school year and even 96% is equal to 7 days absence).

90% or less attendance classes a child as a ‘Persistent Absentee’. If your child is a Persistent Absentee, we will ask you to provide evidence of illness (i.e proof of medical appointment), otherwise any absence will be unauthorised. 90% Attendance is equal to losing a month’s learning (19 days) for the current academic year so, if this level of absence is repeated every year, your child will miss 1 school year over their entire school career!

Contacting the school if your child is absent

• It is very important to call the school office on 01302 841246, text using the Teachers 2 Parents app or email school by 9am on the first day of absence to let us know why your child is not in school.
• If school is not notified of an absence, a member of staff from school will text followed by a phone call to find out why your child is absent.
• If no contact is made with the school, we will use all the contact details including the emergency contacts you have given us.
• Please be aware that a home visit may be made by our a member of our Safeguarding Team including our Education Welfare Officer, Mr Dave Scott.

 If you are unsure whether your child should come to school, you are always welcome to call the school office for guidance. Generally, if children can get up and play, they are well enough to attend school.

Late marks and helpful tips to avoid them

If a pupil arrives late to school but whilst the register is still open they are marked as Late (L). If a pupil arrives at school after the register is closed, without a satisfactory reason, this will be recorded as an unauthorised absence (U) and may lead to prosecution for not ensuring your child has regular/punctual school attendance.

Being frequently late for school adds up to lost learning

• Arriving 5 minutes late every day adds up to over 3 days lost each year
• Arriving 15 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year
• Arriving 30 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 19 days a year

BUT REMEMBER – ‘IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE LATE THAN NOT TO ARRIVE AT ALL’

Holidays

Schools are no longer able to authorise holidays unless the reason is deemed to be an exceptional circumstance. Leave of absence forms can be requested from the school office or downloaded below.

If you wish to seek approval for any request of absence for your child from school, which you consider exceptional, you must apply in writing to the Head Teacher as soon as possible. A decision will then be made about whether the absence is deemed as exceptional circumstances and evidence may be requested to support your application.

Should you fail to notify the school of an absence, or you choose to take your child out of school during term time when the absence has not been approved, the matter may well be referred to Doncaster City Council and a Fixed Penalty Notice (the fine is per parent/per child) could be issued for the period of absence. Failure to pay the Fixed Penalty Notice may result in further legal action being taken against you.