Attendance

At St Martin’s Primary we believe that attending school regularly is one of the foundations of successful learning helping to prepare children for the world of education, work and adult life.

A big THANK YOU to all our families who take attendence at school seriously. All children can arrive at school from 8.40am and learning begins as soon as they enter the classroom. The official register is closed at 8.50am and all children must be in their classroom to get a mark in the register. Children who arrive after this time will be marked as late and must be signed it at the office. If your child arrives after 9:30am it will be recorded as unauthorised whole absence for the morning session.

Our target for the whole school attendance is 96%.

Every child has the right to attend school every day. Casual attendance and frequent absence really has a detrimental effect on children’s education and emotional development. At St Martin's Catholic Primary School everyone has their part to play in ensuring that all children attend regularly.

We want our school to have the best attendance, so that our children can learn as much as they possibly can. 

This is achieved by: 

Parent / Carer responsibilities: 

• To ensure their child attends school regularly and on time. 
• To inform school before 9am on the first day of a child’s absence. 
• To keep in contact with the school should there be difficult home circumstances requiring support from the school. 
• To not take holidays during term time as these will be unauthorised and a penalty notice may be issued. (Holidays are strictly not allowed in term time)
• To ensure the school has three current emergency contact names and numbers. The child should know these 3 people. 
• To take medical and dentist appointments outside school time if possible. 
• To co-operate with the school in our aim to improve attendance. 

 The School’s Responsibilities: 

• Inform parents of their responsibilities for maintaining regular attendance for their child. 
• Inform parents every half term of their child’s attendance using the traffic light system. 
  • 97-100% - Good - Outstanding - GREEN LIGHT
  • 94-96.9% - Satisfactory - AMBER LIGHT
  • 93.9% and below - Unsatisfactory - RED LIGHT
• We aim to support any family in difficulties or crisis. 
• Refer families requiring support to the Education Welfare Officer as necessary. 
• We will actively seek Court Prosecution when needed, but we do this as a very last resort. 
• We value and reward good attendance; weekly, half termly, termly and annually through certificates, praise in assembly, rewards and a class attendance trophy. 

We will be inform you if your child is regularly late for school and we will request from parents an explanation. Parents/carers will be invited into school to discuss this concern with the Headteacher, in the hope of resolving the problem. 

To raise standards, please be aware, letters will be sent from the Education Welfare Services if there are any concerns. 

Research shows that the closer a school and family work together the more likely a child will succeed. 

How parents can help get their children to school everyday

Only allow your child days off school for genuine illness. Days off for anything other than genuine illness will not be authorised unless there are exceptional circumstances. See the document below for details of which illnesses need time off.

You MUST phone school or use the app as soon as possible to tell us why your child is absent before 9am and when they are expected to return. Save the school number in your phone – this will save you time, 01928711207.

Examples of Authorised Absences:

• Genuine illness of a pupil
• Medical appointment (evidence required)
• Religious observance
• Death of a close relative

Examples of Unauthorised Absences:

• Tired/overslept/ late night/weather
• Illness of a parent or carer
• Unauthorised holiday
• No clean uniform
• Child didn't want to come in
• Buying new shoes
• Older child’s school had an inset day
  
  

St Martin's attendance monitoring

This week's attendance:

Whole school: 94%

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