Attendance at SFJS

As a school we actively encourage excellent attendance and will look to support and challenge weaker attendance, this includes punctuality.

Please do look through the information on this page so you understand what we expect and how we can support you.

Should you have any queries regarding your child's attendance please contact Mrs Byrne, Headteacher or Mrs Plummer, Attendance Officer.

The Department for Education state that;

"The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude, and any special educational need they may have. It is the legal responsibility of every parent to make sure their child receives that education either by attendance at a school or by education otherwise than at a school.

Where parents decide to have their child registered at school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure their child attends that school regularly. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school."

"The most effective schools consistently promote the benefits of good attendance at school, set high expectations for every pupil, communicate those expectations clearly and consistently to pupils and parents, systematically analyse their data to identify patterns to target their improvement efforts, and work effectively with the local authority and other local partners to overcome barriers to attendance. They also recognise that attendance cannot be seen in isolation and that the foundation to good attendance is a calm, orderly, safe and supportive environment in which all pupils want to attend and can learn and thrive. To manage and improve attendance effectively, all schools are expected to:

• Develop and maintain a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of high attendance.
• Have a clear school attendance policy which all staff, pupils and parents understand.
• Accurately complete admission and, with the exception of schools where all pupils are boarders, attendance registers and have effective day to day processes in place to follow-up absence.
• Regularly monitor and analyse attendance and absence data to identify pupils or cohorts that require support with their attendance and put effective strategies in place.
• Build strong relationships with families, listen to and understand barriers to attendance and work with families to remove them.
• Share information and work collaboratively with other schools in the area, local authorities, and other partners when absence is at risk of becoming persistent or severe."

Attendance and Attainment

The link between attendance and attainment is clear: 

• In 2018/2019, just 40% of persistently absent (PA) children in KS2 achieved expected KS2 standards, compared with 84% of pupils who regularly attended school. 

Attendance is important for more than just attainment:

• Regular school attendace can facilitate positive peer relationships, which is a protective factor for mental health and wellbeing.

Attendance Flyers

Policies and Guidance to Support Your Child's Attendance

• Copies of our latest attendance and behaviour policies can be found here
• Hampshire's guidance for behaviour and attendance, please click here
• Securing good attendance and tackling persistent absence, please click here
• Working together to improve school attendance, please click here
• DfE - The Education Hub, please click here
• Parents' Responsibilities for attendance, please click here
• How to improve your child's school attendance and where to get support, please click here
• Mental health resources for children, students, parents, carers and school/college staff, please click here

What to do if your child is unwell

It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they're unwell.

To avoid outbreaks of infectious illnesses please do not bring your child to school if they are unwell. If you do keep your child at home, it's important to phone the school on the first day to let us know that your child won't be in and give us the reason. If your child becomes unwell whilst they are here, we will contact you to arrange for them to be collected by someone listed on their contact form.

More information can be found on the following NHS website

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

or the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health website

https://what0-18.nhs.uk/parentscarers/worried-your-child-unwell/child-unwell-ok-go-nurseryschool

Sickness and/or Diarrhoea

Children who have had a bout of sickness or diarrhoea will need to stay off school for 48hrs from the last episode. 

Colds and Coughs

It's fine to send your child to school with a minor cough or common cold. But if they have a fever, keep them off school until the fever goes.

Encourage your child to throw away any used tissues and to wash their hands regularly.

Chickenpox

If your child has chickenpox, keep them off school until all the spots have crusted over.

This is usually about 5 days after the spots first appeared.

Scarlet fever

If your child has scarlet fever, they'll need treatment with antibiotics from a GP. Otherwise they'll be infectious for 2 to 3 weeks.

Your child can go back to school 24 hours after starting antibiotics.

Head lice and nits

There's no need to keep your child off school if they have head lice.

You can treat head lice and nits without seeing a GP.

100% Attendance

As we are sure you are aware, school attendance is known to be directly linked to pupil attainment.  In September 2022, the Department for Education (DfE) published that 'The pupils with the highest attainment at the end of key stage 2 and key stage 4 have higher rates of attendance over the key stage compared to those with the lowest attainment.'  

So that the children recognise the importance we place on good attendance we have an award system. From this term (Autumn 2022), children who have 100% attendance will be awarded a bronze 100% badge.  If they continue with their 100% attendance until the end of the of the Spring Term, they will be awarded a silver 100% badge and a gold badge if they have all 3 terms in the academic year at 100% attendance.  A bronze 100% attendance badge will be awarded in your child’s first term of achieving 100%, it does not have to be in this term.

A 100% attendance badge will be awarded to any pupil who has not been absent or late to school at any time through the term in question.  We do, however, recognise that some children may have to leave school slightly early, arrive late to school, or leave and return within the school day to attend an unavoidable medical appointment; such as Consultant hospital appointments, orthodontist appointments and emergency doctor/dentist appointments.  Due to this, these children will be identified, case by case, and can still receive their 100% attendance badge.  

Persistent Absence

What percentage is classed as persistent absence?

Persistent absence is when a pupil enrolment's overall absence equates to 10 per cent or more of their possible sessions.

The following table shows how many days off will make your child a persistent absence student.

A typical pattern of absence could look like the following example: 19 days absence = 90% attendance

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