Statement of intent

The Diamond Learning Partnership Trust (DLPT) believes that in order to facilitate teaching and learning, good attendance is essential. Pupils cannot achieve their full potential if they do not regularly attend school.

The average attendance for a school age child is above 95%.

Attendance Figures Class Breakdown

Absences

Children may only be absent from school for medical reasons or other very exceptional circumstances. 

We ask parents/carers to contact the school as soon as possible to let us know about any absence.  In the event that we are not notified, the school will contact you. 

Leave of Absence

We would discourage parents from taking any leave of absence during term time.  If this is unavoidable, we would ask you to complete a  'Leave of Absence Request Form' to let us know of your intention.  

The school requires parents to observe the school holidays as prescribed; therefore, the headteacher will be unable to authorise holidays during term-time in the vast majority of cases. The headteacher will be only allowed to grant a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances.

Applications must be made in advance and the headteacher will be satisfied by the evidence which is presented, before authorising term-time leave. The headteacher will determine the amount of time a pupil can be away from school during term-time.

Any leave of absence is at the discretion of the headteacher. Any requests for leave during term-time will be considered on an individual basis and the pupil’s previous attendance record will be taken into account.

Requests for leave will not be granted in the following circumstances:

• Immediately before and during assessment periods
• When a pupil’s attendance record shows any unauthorised absence
• Where a pupil’s authorised absence record is already above 10 percent for any reason

If parents take their child out of school during term-time without authorisation from the headteacher, they may be subject to sanctions such as penalty fines.

Persistent Absentees

If a pupil’s attendance falls below 90 percent, a letter is sent home explaining that the pupil’s attendance is now being monitored, and the attendance officer contacts the parents to discuss this.

1. The pupil’s attendance is monitored for two weeks and, if attendance does not improve after this time, parents are required to attend a meeting in school with the classroom teacher and set targets for their child. If parents are unwilling to cooperate, or are genuinely unable to attend, a referral may be required to the local education welfare officer (EWO), who will then conduct a home visit.
2. After the two-week monitoring period, and if targets are met, a letter is sent home from the SLT to congratulate the pupil and their parents on improving attendance. Monitoring and communication with the parents continues until attendance stabilises to 96 percent.
3. If targets are not met, the classroom teacher makes a referral to the Trust Attendance Officer. Education welfare protocol is followed, and a parental contract is drawn up. A four-week monitoring period is established and, if there are no improvements, a final written warning is issued to the parents if there is no improvement after an additional four weeks, a fixed-penalty notice is issued.

Lateness

The school will regard punctuality as of the utmost importance and lateness will not be tolerated. The school day starts at 8.40am for all pupils in Reception to Year 6.

Pupils should be in their classroom on time:

• Registers are marked by 9:10am. Pupils will receive a late mark if they are not in their classroom by this time.
• The register closes at 9:20am. Pupils will receive a mark of absence if they do not attend school before this time. This will impact on your child's overall attendance figure. 
• Pupils attending after the registers have closed will receive a mark to show that they were on site, but this will count as a late mark.