Attendance

 To ensure the greatest opportunity for each pupil to learn and develop their potential, we seek to ensure all our pupils receive a full-time education. Our school aims to provide a happy and secure environment, in which every member of the school community feels welcome and cared for. We strive to work with pupils and their families to ensure each pupil attends school regularly and punctually. We aim to acknowledge both good attendance and pupil’s efforts to improve their attendance and time-keeping, through incentives and rewards. We seek to communicate effectively with pupils, parents/carers and appropriate agencies to provide mutual information, advice and support.

Dunn Street Primary will:

• Promote good attendance and reduce absence, including persistent absence
• Ensure every pupil has access to full-time education to which they are entitled
• Differentiate between authorised and unauthorised absence in order to act early to address patterns of absence
• Keep parents fully informed of their child’s attendance/punctuality record providing 3 reports a year. Attendance can be viewed daily on Arbor (school information and payment system)
• Contact parents on the first day, when a pupil fails to attend school without providing good reason, via telephone or the school’s electronic messaging system
• Follow up unexplained absences and declining punctuality by telephone calls, school’s electronic messaging service and letters as necessary
• Take timely action on any attendance or punctuality problem notified to us and involve appropriate outside agencies in order to support children and their families. This may include a ‘home visit’ or a request to the police to undertake a ‘Safe and Well’ welfare visit

Children will:

• Aim to achieve 100% attendance each academic year
• Attend school daily
• Arrive on time and be appropriately prepared for the day
• Tell a member of staff about any problem or reason that may prevent them from attending school

Parents will:

• Support the school and their child in aiming for 100% attendance each academic year
• Ensure their child attends school daily and on time 
• Ensure that their child attends school dressed in accordance with the school uniform policy, fully equipped with a positive attitude to learn
• Notify the school before 9:15 am of any absence
• Avoid taking their child out of school for non-urgent medical or dental appointments
• Provide evidence of any absence due to clinical hospital, dental appointments.
• Send a written note to confirm the reason for any absence.
• Only request leave of absence if it is for an exceptional circumstance
• Ensure the school has updated contact numbers
• Will actively work with the school staff and relevant multi-agency staff, to solve any attendance issues as and when they occur.

Local Authority Fixed Penalty Notice Advice

Parents of children whose level of attendance at school is unacceptable can be issued with a penalty notice. Section 23 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 allows these penalty notices to be issued by local authorities, senior staff in schools and police officers.

Reducing absence from school is a key priority nationally and locally.

Missing school damages a pupil's attainment levels, disrupts school routines and the learning of others and can leave a pupil vulnerable to anti-social behaviour and youth crime.

Above all, missing school seriously affects children's longer-term life opportunities.

These penalty notices will be issued where a parent or carer is considered capable of but unwilling to secure an improvement in their child's school attendance. The powers came into force on 27 February 2004.

For more information click here.

Illness and Attendance

At Dunn Street Primarye we follow the NHS school attendance guidance. This will help when making a decision to send your child into school or not. Click on the link below for updated guidance.

NHS School Attendance Guidance