Attendance

For all our children who achieve 100% attendance this term they will get the chance, with their family, to go to the local Indoor Climbing Wall.

We celebrate the class with the best attendance every week on our newsletter and in our phase assemblies.  The class with the highest attendance wins the chance to come into school in non-uniform for a day the following week.

“Schools are required to monitor and report on punctuality and absence from school.”

DFE Circular No. 11/91

The school actively encourages full attendance at all times throughout the school year.  If your child is due to be absent through ill health, you must inform the main school office before 9.15 a.m. on the first day of absence, otherwise it will be recorded as unauthorised.  We have a duty to monitor children’s attendance very closely throughout the school year.

Attendance staff

Miss Rogers is responsible for attendance in our school and will contact you to discuss your child’s absence.  If you are requesting absence from school this staff member is also who you will meet.

Requesting Holidays in Term Time

As you know we always try to encourage 100% attendance at Westbourne.  However, in the first 6 weeks of term from September 2018, 169 days were taken as holidays by children.  This is a huge number of days lost which has a massive effect on a child’s education.

As a result of these absences, a number of parents have exceeded the 20 days, which results in the child being taken off roll.  For four children they have been removed from the school roll since September which has meant they have had to re-apply for their school place at Westbourne.

This is a significant concern to us all at Westbourne and I would urge families to consider the implications of removing their children during term time.  There is no such thing as catch up and children do miss out as a result.

If you are planning on going on holiday, the schools policy is that you must make an appointment to meet with Mr Atkinson and Miss Rogers to discuss your leave of absence request. During the meeting school staff will explain the impact of taking your child from school and we may be able to reach a compromise whereby you use a school holiday to go on holiday.

What are exceptional circumstances when it comes to holidays during term time? When can the Headteacher authorise holidays?

Examples of exceptional circumstances where leave may be granted are as follows:
• If a parent is service personnel
• If a health professional has advised it
• Out of school programmes such as music, arts or sport operating at a high standard of achievement
• Religious observance
• To attend a wedding or funeral of a close relative for the day

Holidays above 5 days cannot be authorised by the Headteacher, no matter the circumstances.  The Headteacher does not have ability to authorise any holidays that are not deemed as exceptional circumstances.

What will happen if my child’s attendance is below 95%?

If your child’s attendance dips below 95% and there is an unknown reason for this, for example it is not due to a holiday, we will write to you and invite you into a meeting in school.  At the meeting we will ask about the reasons for absence and set an attendance target for your child.

Being late adds up…

• Arriving 5 minutes late everyday adds up to over 3 days lost each year.
• Arriving 15 minutes late everyday is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year.
• Arriving 30 minutes late everyday is the same as being absent for 19 days a year.