Regular attendance directly correlates with academic success. Children who attend school consistently are more likely to keep up with the curriculum, perform better in exams, and improve their life outcomes.

School is where children acquire knowledge and skills that are crucial for their personal and professional growth. Missing days means missing out on valuable learning opportunities.

School provides a vital social environment for children and adolescents to interact with peers, develop friendships, and learn essential social skills. Consistent attendance ensures children remain connected to their peer group.

School attendance establishes a structured routine in children’s lives, teaching them time management and responsibility, which are valuable life skills.

Regular attendance allows for meaningful teacher-child interactions. Teachers can provide personalised support, address questions, and assess individual progress more effectively when children attend regularly.

Frequent absences can lead to significant knowledge gaps, making it challenging for children to catch up with missed lessons, potentially resulting in long-term academic struggles.

Children who attend school regularly are more likely to engage in extracurricular activities, sports, and other enriching experiences that contribute to their overall development.

• Parents or guardians are legally responsible for ensuring their child’s regular school attendance. Failing to do so can lead to legal consequences.

High levels of school attendance contribute to the overall well-being of communities.

Diarrhoea, sickness, childhood ailments e.g. measles, chicken pox, extremely high temperatures are genuine illness. Pupils should not stay home if they have minor coughs, colds, tummy aches and headaches. If your child is too poorly to remain at school, we will contact you. The following website link has advice for parents on specific illnesses:  

NHS Live-well – Is my child too ill for school? 

You must report your child as absent by 9:15am using the following steps…

Online: https://studybugs.com/report

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 01527527081 (ext. 4125)

If your child is refusing to attend school because they are anxious, find learning hard, they are being bullied or have fallen out with friends you can email [email protected] and Mr Hanks will forward your concerns to the appropriate member of staff.

Who can support you, when you are struggling to support your child to attend? Contact [email protected] or go to our Family Support pages on the website for signposting to wider agencies.

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Please ensure that you supply the school with medical evidence for all appointments e.g apt cards/prescriptions (we do not expect you to incur a cost for this). We ask where possible that routine appointments are booked outside of school time. Your child’s absence will be unauthorised if this is not provided.

Supporting school attendance is important so the school will not authorise holidays in term time (unless for exceptional circumstances). Please complete a Holiday Request Form 10 school days prior to departure. Please do not report your child as sick as this encourages them to be dishonest to teachers and puts pressure on their friends. The Local Authority has the authority to sanction and/or­­­­­­­ fine any parent with responsibility for their child’s education following a holiday. The attendance team will notify you of this when your child returns.

We will complete a risk assessment to ensure that pupils returning to school after an accident, surgery or serious illness receive the best possible care. We have policies such as Supporting Pupils with Medical Needs, Pupils with Health needs who cannot attend school, Health and Safety and First Aid for this purpose.

If your child is returning to school after an accident, surgery or serious illness, please contact your child’s Head of Year/Reception in the first instance and we will arrange a risk assessment meeting with Mrs Little (Lead First Aider) and other relevant staff. We cannot support your child’s return without you attending this meeting.

Email: [email protected] or call on 01527527081.

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We monitor pupil attendance every week. You will be alerted if your child’s absence is greater than 6 days or if your child’s attendance improves by letter or phone call. After 19 days your child will be classed as a ‘Persistent Absentee’, we want to avoid your child being in this category and will work together to try to improve their attendance by offering help and support.

• Your child will record their days absence in their planner to help you both keep track.
• You will receive phone calls from Form Teachers and our Attendance Team.
• You will be invited to meetings with your child’s form teacher, the Attendance Team or Head of Year to discuss absence and any barriers you or your child maybe facing.
• We will listen to your concerns and make a plan to help and support in school.
• We will work with outside agencies to offer family support where appropriate.

• Ensure your child attends every day the school is open except when a statutory reason applies.
• Notify the school as soon as possible when your child has to be unexpectedly absent (e.g. sickness).
• Only request leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and do so in advance.
• Book any medical appointments around the school day where possible.
• Work with school and Worcestershire Children First to help us understand barriers to attendance.
• Proactively engage with the support offered to prevent the need for formal support or legal intervention.

Our whole school target is 96% and we use a range of initiatives to encourage pupils to attend. Keep up to date with who has achieved each week on our Facebook page, our newsletters and the TV monitor in reception.