Attendance

Absence Form
Max length 120 characters
Max length 120 characters
Max length 120 characters
Max length 120 characters
Max length 500 characters

The Importance of School Attendance

"Regular school attendance allows a pupil to make positive relationships with staff and other pupils. It enables a child to feel they belong within the school community and provides and opportunity to experience success and satisfaction. If a child is absent when new work is introduced they will find it difficult to understand the topic. In these circumstances some children give up trying, some become distressed, while others vent their frustration by misbehaving."

Education Welfare: Calderdale Council

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Only with good, consistent attendance can we provide the very best education for children. To miss school is to miss out on learning, and that means that the children start to fall behind.

As a school we need to work with parents to improve on this. When we were last inspected by Ofsted, attendance was one of the very few areas identified for improvement. Our target is to achieve 97% attendance throughout school. This should be achievable. To put it in to perspective - a score of 90% in, say a maths test sounds pretty good BUT an attendance rate of 90% would mean that a child is missing one day of school every two weeks - all the way through the year! That is simply not acceptable.

So what can you, as parents do to help? We ask that you:

  • Ensure your child comes to school every day, unless there is a very good reason that he/she genuinely is unable to do so (of course we all get ill from time to time, but we frequently have children off school for a day for trivial reasons - because they've 'slept in' or 'gone shopping'.)
  • Make sure you let us know quickly if your child is going to be off, and why.
  • Do not take holidays during term time. School holidays amount to 13 weeks per year. Please note that requests for absence during term time will be declined unless there are extraordinary circumstances which merit the absence (such as family bereavement). Parents who take their child out of school without the Headteacher's permission could find themselves subject to a fixed penalty fine.
  • Sign our home-school agreement to ensure good attendance. All parents will be asked to do this at the first Parent's Evening of the year in the autumn term.

We are aware that there are occasions when your child will be able to not attend school. On these occasions we would appreciate it if you would let school know.

You can contact the school office on 01422 352856, complete the absence form on the left hand side. School may contact you if we need further information.