Attendance at Lingham

ATTENDANCE IS EVERYBODY’S RESPONSIBILITY

Attendance Policy
Leave of Absence Form

Attendance Matters

Children have a right to an education and need to attend school regularly to benefit. Missing out on lessons leaves children vulnerable to falling behind. We want all children to experience success, to work hard, to do their best to achieve their learning targets, behave well and reach their full potential.

At Lingham, we put great emphasis our legal and moral duty to promote good attendance for our children. Good school attendance is essential for optimum progress and achievement. Children who come to school regularly and on time make good progress in their learning. We want all of our children to achieve to the best of their potential and they cannot do this if they are not in school learning every day.

If you have any concerns about your child's enthusiasm for school, their health, friendships or learning support please contact us.  We often find that a joint approach can be supportive and beneficial for children and parents.  As well as school staff, we can also look for support from our partners in the school nursing service, locality team and other professionals.

We classify good attendance as 95%+.  That is our aim for all children. Children who have good attendance at school flourish socially, emotionally and academically.

Below 95% needs improving.  

Below 90% is a concern. We will contact you about your child's attendance if it is below 90% and request a school-based meeting to look at how we can support your child's attendance at school.

Below 85% is a significant concern.  We will arrange a school-based meeting to look at an action plan for improving your child's attendance.  Your child's attendance will be monitored daily by our attendance officer.

Absences

Please remember to phone in every day if your child is off. If we do not hear from you we will give you a call to check why your child is not in school or nursery. If we cannot contact you, we will continue to try and get in touch in other ways including using other numbers we have on record for you.

When making dental or doctor’s appointments, please try and arrange them for out of school or in the afternoon so that there is less impact on their school work. If your child is absent from school because of an appointment, they can only be credited with a ‘medical’ absence if you produce the appointment card/letter. Otherwise it will be categorised as an unauthorised attendance.

Persistent Absenteeism

90% attendance or below is classed as PERSISTENT ABSENTEEISM and is a major cause for concern.

What can 90% attendance mean for your child?

  1. 90% attendance means that a child misses the equivalent of four whole weeks of lessons in the school year.

  2. 90% attendance means that a child is absent from lessons for the equivalent of one half day every week.

  3. Over the course of 5 years, if a child only attends for 90% of each of those years then they will have missed the equivalent of about one half of a school year. 

  4. Studies have shown that children who have been persistent absentees in primary school are likely to be persistent absentees in secondary school and go on to do less well in GCSEs. In other words, persistent absenteeism can have a long-term effect on their lives.

If your child’s attendance is falling towards this level you are likely to be asked to come into school to talk to us and see if there are ways we can help you to get them into school regularly. We will probably require medical notes for further absences if they are to be authorised. If attendance does not improve, you may receive a penalty notice and have to pay a fine or face further action.