At St John’s we are committed to providing education of the highest quality to our pupils.  We recognise the clear link between attendance and the attainment of pupils. The aim of this policy is therefore to encourage the highest possible levels of attendance for individuals, groups and the pupil body as a whole. To achieve this, all members of our academy community have an important contribution to make.

We aim to:

• ensure every pupil is safeguarded and their right to education is protected.
• promote a culture across our academy which identifies the importance of regular and punctual attendance.
• make attendance and punctuality a priority for all those associated with our academy including pupils, parents, teachers, support staff and governors.
• further develop positive and consistent communication between home and our academy.
• set targets to improve individual pupil and whole academy attendance levels.
• work with external agencies in order to address barriers to attendance and overcome them.

  At St John’s we are committed to providing education of the highest quality to our pupils.  We recognise the clear link between attendance and the attainment of pupils. The aim of this policy is therefore to encourage the highest possible levels of attendance for individuals, groups and the pupil body as a whole. To achieve this, all members of our academy community have an important contribution to make.

We aim to:

• ensure every pupil is safeguarded and their right to education is protected.
• promote a culture across our academy which identifies the importance of regular and punctual attendance.
• make attendance and punctuality a priority for all those associated with our academy including pupils, parents, teachers, support staff and governors.
• further develop positive and consistent communication between home and our academy.
• set targets to improve individual pupil and whole academy attendance levels.
• work with external agencies in order to address barriers to attendance and overcome them.

Our full attendance policy can be found on in the policy section on our school website but here are some of the key points:

Start of Day: At St John’s gates open at 8.45am and the gate closes at 9.00am.  The first (morning) registration    session starts at 8:55am.  From 9.00am children should enter the school through the School Office (as the gate will be closed) and should make their way straight to class to receive their attendance mark. The register will close at 9.10am. Pupils arriving between 9.10am and 9.20am will receive a late mark. Any pupils that arrive after 9.20am will receive a U mark to show that the pupil is on site but has arrived very late.  The afternoon registration session starts at 1.00pm for Reception, Years 1 and 2 and at 1.30pm for Years 3-6.

Appointments: As far as possible, dental and medical appointments should be made outside of the school day. Where this is not possible, a note and appointment card should be given to the office before the appointment.

Illness: In order to make informed decisions about their pupil’s fitness for attending parents are encouraged to refer to the NHS guidance Is My Pupil Too Ill for School? Is my pupil too ill for school? - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

In the case of an illness which lasts for more than five days, parents may be required to provide medical evidence which may enable us to authorise the absence. Where medical evidence is not provided, the absence may be recorded as unauthorised.

Requesting leave in term time:

Absence for purposes of leave during term time can only be authorised by the Headteacher, within the boundaries set by the Education (Pupil Registrations) (England) Regulations 2006.  “Head Teachers may not authorise leave during term time except where the circumstances are exceptional.”  Under the Regulations, retrospective authorisation for leave in exceptional circumstances is not permitted. The fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional circumstances’ are that they are: ‘rare; significant; unavoidable and short’.

If an event cannot be reasonably scheduled outside of term-time, then it would be normal to authorise absence for such an event – holidays are therefore not considered ‘exceptional circumstances’.

Unauthorised Absences: These are days off which have not been approved by the Headteacher. Also, if the school hasn’t been informed of an illness on the day of illness and school have not been able to make contact, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.

Home Visits: If we have not received notification of an illness and have been unable to make contact by lunchtime, a home visit will be undertaken by senior leaders to check safety of the child, in line with our safeguarding procedures.

Issuing penalty notices:

Where family holidays or leave of absence are taken without the permission of the school, penalty notices may be issued.

Irregular attendance including persistent late arrival to school (after registration has closed) is 10 or more sessions within a five-week period. Parents are usually given a 20-day monitoring period to improve attendance, if there are any unauthorised during this time a fixed penalty notice will then be issued. If issued with a penalty notice, parents must pay £60 within 21 days or £120 within 28 days. The payment must be made directly to the local authority. If the payment has not been made after 28 days, the local authority can decide whether to prosecute the parent or withdraw the notice.

If you would like to read our full attendance policy, please click the link below which will take you to our policies page: