School Office : 01761 432311
Email: office@psjprimary.co.uk
Our vision is to achieve excellence by consistently fulfilling 100% attendance and punctuality goals.
From the first day of term to the last, the small moments in a school day make a real difference to your child. Attendance counts. We believe that face-to-face education is important in helping pupils to fulfil their potential. During school time we believe pupils should be in class with their teachers and peers and enjoying all the benefits that brings.
Parents or carers of a child have a legal responsibility to ensure their child receives a suitable education. This is usually achieved through regular attendance at school.
We expect outstanding attendance for all, however we do recognise that there are times when pupils will absent from school.
If attendance drops below 97% the school will contact parents immediately to put a plan in place to make improvements.
95 - 100% (less than 10 days absence in a year) is good attendance. 95% is the national average attendance rate for a child at primary school.
Anything below 95% attendance is worrying as your child has less chance of success. It makes it harder for the child to progress if they are missing key learning opportunities.
Schools monitor pupil attendance every term. You may be sent a letter or you may be invited to a School Attendance Meeting at the school.
No. The School may only authorise an absence in exceptional circumstances.
If pupils take unauthorised leave of absence in term time parents could be served a penalty notice by their local education authority.
Did you know there are 175 non-school days per year to spend on family time, visits, holidays, shopping trips etc.
If you feel that your child isn’t well enough to come to school, you need to phone and leave a message on the Pupil Absence Line or email us before 8.30am. for each day a pupil will not be attending school with your child’s name, year group and the reason why they are not in school.
Medical appointments should be made for after school wherever possible. We may ask to see evidence of medical appointments, if your child’s attendance is poor.
As an academy we must follow national legal guidelines which means that holiday requests during term-time cannot be authorised. Because of this, absences or persistent lateness which are not agreed with us, can incur a penalty notice. These penalties are through the local council and we have no control over how they are given.
We cannot guarantee that we will authorise a pupil’s leave of absence during term time, as this is only done in exceptional circumstances. If you don’t get permission from our Head of Academy, the absence is classed as ‘unauthorised’ and this includes lateness. If you want to see if an absence can be authorised, you must contact school in advance and get permission from the Academy Headteacher.
We keep parents up to date with their child’s attendance and confirm absences with them; this makes sure pupils are supported in their progress at the Academy.
Our Attendance Team work really hard to support pupils and often identify patterns of non-attendance. They will always work with parents and carers to understand these patterns and see how they can be improved.
If you require an exceptional leave of absence, please download this form and send it to the school office.
