Attendance
Our aim is to bring the best out of every pupil that attends St Luke’s
The Importance Of Attendance
Attendance in school is extremely important.
The following information is provided to help parents understand what attendance figures mean, why we feel children’s attendance is so important and what we continually do in order to improve the attendance.
Consequences to the school of poor overall attendance figures.
As a school the effect of poor attendance is primarily seen with children not making expected progress throughout a year and not reaching their full potential.
To report an absence:
- Call 01223 566879 - option 1; leave a voicemail with your child's name, year group and reason.
- Email attendance@stlukes.cambs.sch.uk
Absence procedures
Parents must notify the school EACH day if their child is unable to attend, best before 9:15.
If we don't receive a notification, we will follow the below steps as per our absence policy:
- Make contact with you or send you a message asking you to make contact - to everyone that has parental responsibility.
- Call emergency contacts.
- Conduct a home visit, if no response to all the above.
Our Attendance Target for the academic year: 97%
List of services
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Attendance figures explainedList Item 1
Attendance is based on a child being at school in time for the morning register as well as the afternoon register so being marked present for 2 sessions a day.
Both these sessions count towards their overall attendance figure which is simply a percentage of how many sessions your child has been present throughout the current academic year.
The only reasons a child will be marked as present when they are not in school are if they are being educated at a different location, or at a school event such as residential or sporting.
There are a variety of different reasons that a child may be absent from school and the school will assign an appropriate code on the register to make staff aware of the reason.
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Authorised AbsenceList Item 2
Absence from school can be authorised for the following reasons:
Medical appointments
Illness where the school has been notified by phone or in writing
Religious observance
NOTE: An authorised absence is still recorded as the child not being in school and will have a negative effect on their attendance figure.
Absence from school will be unauthorised in all other circumstances unless deemed to be ‘exceptional’ by the Headteacher. This does not apply to term-time holidays, which will always be unauthorised.
Please see the information below, from the Local Authority, regarding unauthorised term time leave.
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UNAUTHORISED TERM TIME LEAVE (includes Holiday):List Item 3
If a pupil takes unauthorised term-time leave for 10 consecutive sessions or more (generally 5 days), they will be subject to a Penalty Notice. The fine for a penalty notice is £80 per child, per parent/carer, increasing to £160 if not paid after 21 days but within 28 days for pupils who are of statutory school age.
If a penalty notice remains unpaid, parents may be the subject of court proceedings for failing to ensure the regular school attendance of their child and this could result in a fine of up to £2,500 and/or a term of imprisonment of up to 3 months per parent.
For second offences of unauthorised term-time leave (10 consecutive sessions or more) within a three-year rolling period, the fine is a flat £160 per parent, per child.
For the third offence in a three-year rolling period, the referral will be automatically considered for prosecution in relation to Section
444 Education Act 1996.
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Why we feel a child’s attendance is so importantList Item 4
Children’s learning in school is based on a build up of skills and knowledge.
This build up is continually planned by teachers on a day to day basis. Children that miss one session could miss out on a potentially important session and although every effort is made to catch children up when they return, this is usually not as effective and takes time away from the rest of the class.
If children miss out on a number of sessions this can significantly affect their overall progress.
Children that are away from school on a regular basis can miss out on opportunities to build strong friendships and can sometimes find it harder to build strong friendships within school
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What we do to help improve children’s attendance
We have a range of strategies in place that are aimed at improving attendance:
A weekly attendance award (whole class).
Termly and annual attendance certificates.
We work with individual families supporting them where attendance is an issue, offering for example support from our Family Support Worker.
The attendance of every pupil is monitored on a monthly basis and we liaise closely with the Education Welfare Officer (EWO), involving them when attendance falls below acceptable levels.