The Hayes Primary School Attendance policy

Contents

1. Aims ................................................................................................................................................................. 2
2. Legislation and guidance ................................................................................................................................. 2
3. Roles and responsibilities ................................................................................................................................ 3
4. Recording attendance...................................................................................................................................... 5
5. Authorised and unauthorised absence ............................................................................................................ 7
6. Strategies for promoting attendance ............................................................................................................... 9
7. Supporting pupils who are absent or returning to school ................................................................................ 9
8. Attendance monitoring ................................................................................................................................... 10
9. Monitoring arrangements ............................................................................................................................... 11
10. Links with other policies ............................................................................................................................... 11

Appendix 1: attendance codes ................................................................................................................... 12

1. Aims 

This policy aims to show our commitment to meeting our obligations with regards to school attendance, including those laid out in the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) statutory guidance on working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024), through our whole-school culture and ethos that values good attendance, including:

 Setting high expectations for the attendance and punctuality of all pupils

 Promoting good attendance and the benefits of good attendance

 Reducing absence, including persistent and severe absence

 Ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled

 Acting early to address patterns of absence

 Building strong relationships with families to make sure pupils have the support in place to attend school

We will also promote and support punctuality in attending lessons.

1. Legislation and guidance 

This policy is based on the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) statutory guidance on working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024) and school attendance parental responsibility measures. The guidance is based on the following pieces of legislation, which set out the legal powers and duties that govern school attendance:

 Part 6 of the Education Act 1996

 Part 3 of the Education Act 2002

 Part 7 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006

 The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (and 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2016 amendments)

 The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024  

 The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 and the 2024 amendment

It also refers to:

 School census guidance

 Keeping Children Safe in Education

 Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance: guidance for schools

1. Roles and responsibilities 
   1. The governing board

The governing board is responsible for:

 Setting high expectations of all school leaders, staff, pupils and parents

 Making sure school leaders fulfil expectations and statutory duties, including: o            Making sure the school records attendance accurately in the register, and shares the required information with the DfE and local authority

o             Making sure the school works effectively with local partners to help remove barriers to attendance, and keeps them informed regarding specific pupils, where appropriate

 Recognising and promoting the importance of school attendance across the school’s policies and ethos

 Making sure the school’s attendance management processes are delivered effectively, and that consistent support is provided for pupils who need it most by prioritising staff and resources

 Making sure the school has high aspirations for all pupils, but adapts processes and support to pupils’ individual needs

 Regularly reviewing and challenging attendance data and helping school leaders focus improvement efforts on individual pupils or cohorts who need it most

 Working with school leaders to set goals or areas of focus for attendance and providing support and challenge

 Monitoring attendance figures for the whole school and repeatedly evaluating the effectiveness of the school’s processes and improvement efforts to make sure they are meeting pupils needs

 Where the school is struggling with attendance, working with school leaders to develop a comprehensive action plan to improve attendance

 Making sure all staff receive adequate training on attendance as part of the regular continued professional development offer, so that staff understand:

• The importance of good attendance
• That absence is almost always a symptom of wider issues o        The school’s legal requirements for keeping registers
• The school’s strategies and procedures for tracking, following up on and improving attendance, including working with partners and keeping them informed regarding specific pupils, where appropriate

 Making sure dedicated training is provided to staff with a specific attendance function in their role, including in interpreting and analysing attendance data

 Holding the headteacher to account for the implementation of this policy

1. 1. The headteacher  

The headteacher is responsible for: 

 The implementation of this policy at the school  

 Monitoring school-level absence data and reporting it to governors

 Supporting staff with monitoring the attendance of individual pupils

 Monitoring the impact of any implemented attendance strategies  

 Issuing fixed-penalty notices, where necessary, and/or authorising the local authority to be able to do so

 Working with the parents of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to develop specific support approaches for attendance for pupils with SEND, including where school transport is regularly being missed, and where pupils with SEND face in-school barriers

 Communicating with the local authority when a pupil with an education, health and care (EHC) plan has falling attendance, or where there are barriers to attendance that relate to the pupil’s needs

 Communicating the school’s high expectations for attendance and punctuality regularly to pupils and parents through all available channels

1. 1. The designated senior leader responsible for attendance  

The designated senior leader is responsible for:

 Leading, championing and improving attendance across the school

 Setting a clear vision for improving and maintaining good attendance

 Evaluating and monitoring expectations and processes

 Having a strong grasp of absence data and oversight of absence data analysis

 Regularly monitoring and evaluating progress in attendance  

 Establishing and maintaining effective systems for tackling absence, and making sure they are followed by all staff

 Liaising with pupils, parents/carers and external agencies, where needed

 Building close and productive relationships with parents to discuss and tackle attendance issues

 Creating intervention or reintegration plans in partnership with pupils and their parents/carers  Delivering targeted intervention and support to pupils and families  

1. 1. The attendance officer

The school attendance officer is responsible for: 

 Monitoring and analysing attendance data (see section 7)

 Benchmarking attendance data to identify areas of focus for improvement  Providing regular attendance reports to school staff and reporting concerns about attendance to the designated senior leader responsible for attendance, and the headteacher  

 Working with education welfare officers to tackle persistent absence

 Advising the headteacher/deputy headteacher when to refer cases to the local authority to issue fixedpenalty notices

1. 1. Class teachers

Class teachers are responsible for recording attendance for both morning and afternoon sessions on a daily basis, using the correct codes (see Appendix 1), and submitting this information to the school office.

1. 1. Admin/office staff

Admin/office staff will:

 Take calls from parents/carers about absence on a day-to-day basis and record it on the school system

1. 1. Parents  

Where this policy refers to a parent, it refers to the adult the school and/or local authority decides is most appropriate to work with, including:

 All natural parents, whether they are married or not

 All those who have parental responsibility for a child or young person

 Those who have day-to-day responsibility for the child (i.e. lives with and looks after them) Parents are expected to:

 Make sure their child attends every day on time

 Call the school to report their child’s absence before 9am on the day of the absence and each subsequent day of absence, and advise when they are expected to return

 Provide the school with more than 1 emergency contact number for their child

 Ensure that, where possible, appointments for their child are made outside of the school day

 Keep to any attendance contracts that they make with the school and/or local authority

 Seek support, where necessary, for maintaining good attendance, by contacting Lisa Sinclair who can be contacted via deputy@hayesprimary.croydon.sch.uk

1. 1. Pupils

Pupils are expected to:

  Attend school every day, on time

1. Recording attendance
   1. Attendance register  

We will keep an electronic attendance register, and place all pupils onto this register.

We will take our attendance register at the start of the first session of each school day and once during the second session. It will mark, using the appropriate national attendance and absence codes from the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, whether every pupil is:

 Present

 Attending an approved off-site educational activity

 Absent

 Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances

Any amendment to the attendance register will include:

 The original entry

 The amended entry  

 The reason for the amendment

 The date on which the amendment was made  

 The name and position of the person who made the amendment See Appendix 1 for the DfE attendance codes.

We will also record:

  Whether the absence is authorised or not

 The nature of the activity, where a pupil is attending an approved educational activity

 The nature of circumstances, where a pupil is unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances We will keep every entry on the attendance register for 6 years after the date on which the entry was made.

The school day starts at 8.45am and ends at 3.15pm.

Pupils must arrive in school by 8.45am on each school day.

The register for the morning session will be taken at 9.00am (anyone who arrives after 9.00am will receive a late mark) and will be kept open until 9.30am (anyone who arrives after 9.30am will receive a U mark). The register for the afternoon session will be taken after lunch. 

1. 1. Unplanned absence  

The pupil’s parent must notify the school of the reason for the absence on the first day of an unplanned absence by 8.45am, or as soon as practically possible, by calling the school office, who can be contacted via 0208660 4863 or absence@hayesprimary.croydon.sch.uk.

We will mark absence due to physical or mental illness as authorised, unless the school has a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness.

Where the absence is longer than 5 days, or there are doubts about the authenticity of the illness, the school will ask for medical evidence, such as a doctor’s note, prescription, appointment card or other appropriate form of evidence. We will not ask for medical evidence unnecessarily.

If the school is not satisfied about the authenticity of the illness, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and parents will be notified of this in advance.

1. 1. Planned absence  

Attending a medical or dental appointment will be counted as authorised as long as the pupil’s parent notifies the school in advance of the appointment.

Parents are required to show proof of the appointment, either letter, appointment card or text message.  This can be handed/shown to the school office or sent via email to absence@hayesprimary.croydon.sch.uk.

However, we encourage parents to make medical and dental appointments out of school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, the pupil should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary.

The pupil’s parent must also apply for other types of term-time absence as far in advance as possible of the requested absence. Go to section 5 to find out which term-time absences the school can authorise. 

1. 1. Lateness and punctuality  

A pupil who arrives late:

 Before the register has closed will be marked as late, using the appropriate code

 After the register has closed will be marked as absent, using the appropriate code

 If your child is late on more than 5 occasions a letter will be sent to the parents and they will be invited to a meeting

1. 1. Following up unexplained absence

Where any pupil we expect to attend school does not attend, or stops attending, without reason, the school will:

 Send a text message in the first instance to the parents for a reason.  If we do not receive a response, we will call the pupil’s parent on the morning of the first day of unexplained absence to ascertain the reason. If the school cannot reach any of the pupil’s emergency contacts, the school may conduct a home welfare visit.  

 Identify whether the absence is approved or not

 Identify the correct attendance code to use and input it as soon as the reason for absence is ascertained – this will be no later than 5 working days after the session(s) for which the pupil was absent  

 Call the parent on each day that the absence continues without explanation, to make sure proper safeguarding action is taken where necessary. If absence continues, the school will consider involving an education welfare officer

 Where appropriate, offer support to the parents to improve attendance

 Identify whether the pupil needs support from wider partners, as quickly as possible, and make the necessary referrals

 Where support is not appropriate, not successful, or not engaged with: the school will follow the local authority guidance. [issue a notice to improve, penalty notice or other legal intervention (see section 5.2 below), as appropriate]

1. 1. Reporting to parents

The school will regularly inform parents (see definition of ‘parent’, as used in this policy, in section 3.7 above) about their child’s attendance and absence levels via letters - termly and end of year reports as well as phone calls if necessary.

1. Authorised and unauthorised absence 
   1. Approval for term-time absence  

The headteacher will allow pupils to be absent from the school site for certain educational activities, or to attend other schools or settings. 

The headteacher will only grant a leave of absence to a pupil during term time if the request meets the specific circumstances set out in the 2024 school attendance regulations. These circumstances are:  Taking part in a regulated performance, or regulated employment abroad

 Attending an interview

 Study leave

 A temporary, time-limited part-time timetable

 Exceptional circumstances

A leave of absence is granted at the headteacher’s discretion, including the length of time the pupil is authorised to be absent for.

We define ‘exceptional circumstances’ as ‘unforeseeable and exceptional’.

Leave of absence will not be granted for a pupil to take part in protest activity during school hours.

As a leave of absence will only be granted in exceptional circumstances, a leave of absence will not be granted for the purposes of a family holiday. 

The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant background context behind the request. 

Any request should be submitted as soon as it is anticipated and, where possible, and in accordance with our leave of absence request form, accessible via the school office. The headteacher may require evidence to support any request for leave of absence. For example proof of appointments or employment.

Other valid reasons for authorised absence include (but are not limited to):

 Illness (including mental-health illness) and medical/dental appointments (see sections 4.2 and 4.3 for more detail)

 Religious observance – where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s parent(s) belong(s). If necessary, the school will seek advice from the parent’s religious body to confirm whether the day is set apart

 Parent(s) travelling for occupational purposes – this covers Roma, English and Welsh gypsies, Irish and Scottish travellers, showmen (fairground people) and circus people, bargees (occupational boat dwellers) and new travellers. Absence may be authorised only when a traveller family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school, but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision

 If the pupil is currently suspended or excluded from school (and no alternative provision has been made)

Other reasons the school may allow a pupil to be absent from the school site, which are not classified as absences, include (but are not limited to):

 Attending an offsite approved educational activity, sporting activity or visit or trip arranged by the school

 Attending another school at which the pupil is also registered (dual registration)

 Attending provision arranged by the local authority

 If there is any other unavoidable cause for the pupil not to attend school, such as disruption to travel caused by an emergency, a lack of access arrangements, or because the school premises are closed

5.2 Sanctions  

Our school will make use of the full range of potential sanctions – including, but not limited to, those listed below – to tackle poor attendance. Decisions will be made on an individual, case-by-case basis.  

Penalty notices

The headteacher (or someone authorised by them), local authority or the police can fine parents for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age, by issuing a penalty notice. 

If the school issues a penalty notice, it will check with the local authority before doing so, and send it a copy of any penalty notice issued. 

Before issuing a penalty notice, the school will consider the individual case, including: 

 Whether the national threshold for considering a penalty notice has been met (10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks)

 Whether a penalty notice is the best available tool to improve attendance for that pupil

 Whether further support, a notice to improve or another legal intervention would be a more appropriate solution

 Whether any obligations that the school has under the Equality Act 2010 make issuing a penalty notice inappropriate

Each parent who is liable for the pupil’s offence(s) can be issued with a penalty notice, but this will usually only be the parent/parents who allowed the absence.

The payment must be made directly to the local authority, regardless of who issues the notice. If the payment has not been made after 28 days, the local authority can decide whether to prosecute or withdraw the notice.

If issued with a first penalty notice, the parent must pay £80 within 21 days, or £160 within 28 days.

If a second penalty notice is issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil, the parent must pay £160 if paid within 28 days. 

A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of the issue of the first penalty notice. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time within those 3 years, alternative action will be taken instead.

A penalty notice may also be issued where parents allow their child to be present in a public place during school hours without reasonable justification, during the first 5 days of a suspension or exclusion (where the school has notified the parents that the pupil must not be present in a public place on that day). These penalty notices are not included in the National Framework, not subject to the same considerations about support being provided, and do not count towards the limit as part of the escalation process.

In these cases, the parent must pay £60 within 21 days, or £120. 

Notices to improve

If the national threshold has been met and support is appropriate, but parents do not engage with offers of support, the school may offer a notice to improve to give parents a final chance to engage with support. 

Notices to improve will be issued in line with processes set out in the local code of conduct for the local authority area in which the pupil attends school.

They will include:

 Details of the pupil’s attendance record and of the offences

 The benefits of regular attendance and the duty of parents under section 7 of the Education Act 1996

 Details of the support provided so far   

 Opportunities for further support, or to access previously provided support that was not engaged with

 A clear warning that a penalty notice may be issued if attendance doesn’t improve within the improvement period, along with details of what sufficient improvement looks like, which will be decided on a case-bycase basis

 A clear timeframe of between 3 and 6 weeks for the improvement period  

 The grounds on which a penalty notice may be issued before the end of the improvement period

1. Strategies for promoting attendance 

We highlight the importance of attendance to our parents in, parents’ meetings, newsletters and to our pupils in assemblies.

1. Supporting pupils who are absent or returning to school

1. 1. Pupils absent due to complex barriers to attendance

We work in partnership with families on an individual basis to establish the best way to meet the needs of the child or family.   This can include a variety of interventions, for example early help support or referral or signposting to another service.

1. 1. Pupils absent due to mental or physical ill health or SEND

We work in partnership with families on an individual basis to establish the best way to meet the needs of the child or family.  This can include a variety of interventions, for example early help support or referral or signposting to another service.

Where a pupil has an education health and care (EHC) plan and their attendance falls, or the school becomes aware of barriers to attendance that related to the pupil’s needs, the school will inform the local authority.

1. 1. Pupils returning to school after a lengthy or unavoidable period of absence

We work in partnership with families to establish the best way to integrate pupils back into school.  This can include a phased return. 

1. Attendance monitoring
   1. Monitoring attendance

The school will monitor attendance and absence data (including punctuality) half-termly, termly and yearly across the school and at an individual pupil, year group and cohort level.

Specific pupil information will be shared with the DfE on request. 

The school has granted the DfE access to its management information system so the data can be accessed regularly and securely.

Data will be collected each term and published at national and local authority level through the DfE's school absence national statistics releases. The underlying school-level absence data is published alongside the national statistics. 

The school will benchmark its attendance data at whole school, year group and cohort level against local, regional, and national levels to identify areas of focus for improvement, and share this with the governing board.

1. 1. Analysing attendance

The school will:

 Analyse attendance and absence data regularly to identify pupils, groups or cohorts that need additional support with their attendance, and  

 Identify pupils whose absences may be a cause for concern, especially those who demonstrate patterns of persistent or severe absence  

 Conduct thorough analysis of half-termly, termly, and full-year data to identify patterns and trends

 Look at historic and emerging patterns of attendance and absence, and then develop strategies to address these patterns   

1. 1. Using data to improve attendance

The school will:

 Develop targeted actions to address patterns of absence (of all severities) of individual pupils, groups or cohorts that it has identified via data analysis

 Provide targeted support to the pupils it has identified whose absences may be a cause for concern, especially those who demonstrate patterns of persistent or severed absence, and their families (see section 8.4 below)

 Provide regular attendance reports to facilitate discussions with pupils and families, and to the governing board and school leaders (including special educational needs co-ordinators, designated safeguarding leads and pupil premium leads)

 Use data to monitor and evaluate the impact of any interventions put in place in order to modify them and inform future strategies

 Share information and work collaboratively with other schools in the area, local authorities and other partners where a pupil’s absence is at risk of becoming persistent or severe, including keeping them informed regarding specific pupils, where appropriate

1. 1. Reducing persistent and severe absence

Persistent absence is where a pupil misses 10% or more of school, and severe absence is where a pupil misses 50% or more of school. Reducing persistent and severe absence is central to the school’s strategy for improving attendance.

The school will:

 Use attendance data to find patterns and trends of persistent and severe absence

 Consider potential safeguarding issues and, where suspected or present, address them in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education  

 Hold regular meetings with the parents of pupils who the school (and/or local authority) considers to be vulnerable or at risk of persistent or severe absence, or who are persistently or severely absent, to:

o    Discuss attendance and engagement at school  o           Listen, and understand barriers to attendance o           Explain the help that is available  o         Explain the potential consequences of, and sanctions for, persistent and severe absence o Review any existing actions or interventions  

 Provide access to wider support services to remove the barriers to attendance, in conjunction with the local authority, where relevant

 Consider alternative support that could be put in place to remove any barriers to attendance and reengage these pupils. In doing so, the school will sensitively consider some of the reasons for absence

 Implement sanctions, where necessary (see section 5.2, above)

1. Monitoring arrangements 

This policy will be reviewed as guidance from the local authority and/or DfE is updated, and as a minimum every two years or updated in line with changes in legislation. At every review, the policy will be approved by the full governing board. 

1. Links with other policies 

This policy links to the following policies:

 Child protection and safeguarding policy

 Behaviour policy

Appendix 1: attendance codes 

The following codes are taken from the DfE’s guidance on school attendance.