At Laithes Primary School we have worked hard to improve our attendance and punctuality figures. 

How you as a parent or carer can help:
Please ensure your child arrives promptly in school; it is so important they do not miss valuable learning times. The school doors open at 8.45am. Thank you for your continued support on such an important matter.
Children who are persistently late or absent soon fall behind with their learning. Children who are absent from school frequently develop large gaps in their learning which will impact on their progress and their ability to meet age related learning expectations. A child whose attendance drops to 90% each year will, over their time at primary school, have missed two whole terms of learning.
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It is the parent/carers responsibility:

• To ensure that their children arrive to school on time.
• To ensure children who are late after 9:00am report to the school office to sign in. Records are kept of the pupils that are late with an L code in the register.
• To ensure children are collected promptly at the end of the school day and that necessary arrangements are in place for the journey home. If these differ from the child’s normal arrangements, the class teacher and school office should be made aware of this.
• The first few minutes of school is a crucial time for children to get settled into class. When a child arrives late for school, it not only disrupts the rest of the class, but they miss out on this crucial time.
• Being punctual is an important life skill. Ensuring that your child is punctual gets them into good habits for their future.
• Arriving just 5 minutes late every day equals 3 days of education over the whole year. Arriving half an hour late every day is equivalent to 18 days absence.

​Absences
It is the parent/carer’s responsibility:

To notify the school on the first day of absence before 9:00am or as soon as possible. Parents can report an absence via StudyBugs or telephoning the school office.

To provide medical evidence where possible, on the child’s return to school.   

To ensure that as far as possible, medical appointments are arranged for outside school hours. Where this is not possible, parents are expected to provide evidence of the appointment in advance, and the child should attend school before/after the appointment.

To liaise with the school as soon as possible regarding any specific issues that might cause absence or lateness, e.g. a sick parent/carer.

Parents/carers of children for whom we do not know the reason for absence will be contacted by 10:00am.

Illness/Medical Absences
In addition to the points above, if a child is repeatedly absent due to illness and is classed as a persistent absentee (below 90%), the school will request medical evidence for further absences. This can take the form of a GP appointment card, a consultant letter, a copy of a prescription, etc.

​Absence for Holidays
Parents/carers are expected to take their children on holiday during the school holidays to minimise the impact of missing education.  If there are exceptional circumstances, parents/carers must complete a leave of absence request form in advance of the trip (at least 2 weeks prior). 

It is the parent/carer’s responsibility to obtain a leave of absence form from the school office and complete and submit the form in advance of the period of absence (at least 2 weeks prior). In the majority of cases, schools and the local authority will try to provide support to help you improve your child’s attendance first, but if this isn’t effective or the absence is for unauthorised term time holiday, parents may face paying a fine.
Currently, it’s the responsibility of the local authority to decide when to issue fines to parents, meaning the process varies from council to council. However, under the new national framework, all schools will be required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons.

Unexplained Absence
When a child is repeatedly absent and no satisfactory reason is given, the parent/carers will be investigated and may be liable for prosecution and/or a fine from the Local Authority.

Regular monitoring is carried out by the Education Welfare Officer. Children who have repeated unauthorised absences, holidays or otherwise, will be contacted by the Education Welfare Officer and may be invited in to an attendance meeting to discuss absences and any appropriate support.
Home Visits

There may be times where the school staff will carry out home visits if they are concerned with a pupil’s absences or they are checking on the welfare of a child if no contact has been made by 10:00am.

Legal Action
It is a parent’s legal responsibility to ensure their children receive appropriate education. Failing to send your child to school regularly without good reason is a criminal offence.

Advice from the Health Security Agency:
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Government Guidance to Parents and Carers to improve school attendance:

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