Attendance Matters

SS Osmund & Andrew's RCP School wants to ensure that every child gets the very best education, maximising opportunities for each pupil to achieve their full potential. This can only be accomplished if children attend school every day.

All children have the right to an education.

Parents and carers have the responsibility of ensuring their children are on time and attending regularly.

 

Good Attendance

Having a good education will help to give your child the best possible start in life. We believe that children who do not attend school regularly are more likely to:

• Fall behind in their school work
• Find it difficult to make and keep friends
• Be unhappy at school

 

Setting good attendance patterns from an early age will also help your child later on. Employers want to recruit people who are reliable. Therefore, children who have a poor school attendance record may have less chance of getting a good job.

 

A whole year has 365 days. A school year has only 190 days. This leaves 175 days to spend on family time, visits, holidays, birthdays, treat, dentists, and hospital appointments. 90% attendance is equal to 1 day off each fortnight!

 

100% Attendance Very Good - Best chance of success. Gets your child off to a flying start.

90% Concern - Less chance of success. Makes it harder for your child to make progress.

85% or less - Serious concerns. Your child will find it difficult to make progress, learn new skills and build social networks.

 

 

If your child is absent

Please ensure that if your child is absent from school you contact the school office to give an explanation, otherwise it could result in the absence being recorded as unauthorised.

 

Attendance Awards 

At SS Osmund and Andrew's we celebrate good attendance.  

• Each Monday, attendance is celebrated in the whole school assembly, with the winning class receiving a reward.
• Class attendance is also displayed weekly in the school newsletter and on classroom doors.
• At the end of each term, children with attendance of 98% or above are entered into a draw. There are 3 prizes drawn.
• Certificates are given at the end of each term to children with 100% attendance.
• At the end of the school year, children with 100% attendance are rewarded.

 

Monitoring Attendance and Punctuality

We monitor attendance on a weekly basis. At the end of every half-term,  an email is sent to parents informing them of their child's attendance and notifying them if it is being monitored more closely. Parents of children whose attendance is a concern, may be invited in to attend a meeting with the Attendance Lead and a member of the Senior Leadership Team.  All parents receive attendance reports at Parents' Evenings. Late arrivals are monitored on a weekly basis too. 

 

Fixed Penalty Notices

 

Following extensive development with schools and local authorities, a new National Framework for Penalty Notices for school absence was  introduced in August 2024. 

Local Authorities have instructed schools to issue Fixed Penalty Notices under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 to parents/carers for failing to ensure regular school attendance for their child. The change in government legislation means that family holidays are no longer authorised absences. Family holidays taken in term time may result in a penalty notice being raised. This is also the case where there are high numbers of unauthorised absences within an academic year. Leave of absence during term time will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances and this is at the discretion of the Headteacher. 

A Fixed Penalty Notice Results in:

• £160 if you pay within 28 days of receipt of a Penalty Notice reducing to £80 if you pay within 21 days. (Per parent, per child).
• With any second penalty notice issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period, the amount will be charged at £160 with no option to pay the lower rate of £80.
• There is a national limit of 2 penalty notices that can be issued to a parent for the same child within a 3-year rolling period, so at the 3rd (or subsequent) offence(s) another tool will be considered (such as prosecution)

 

Please click here to view our Attendance & Holidays in Term Time Policy

 

School Rate of Attendance

Academic Year 2024 - 2025 94.2%

Academic Year 2023 - 2024  94.6%

Academic Year 2022 - 2023 93.8%

Academic Year 2021 - 2022 94.6%