At St Paul's Catholic Primary School, we strive to create a supportive approach to attendance and encourage our families to contact us should there be any barriers to your child arriving at school on time every day.

In August 2024 new national rules and regulations about attendance were introduced by the Government.  The Department for Education have published guidance on managing school attendance and these guidelines became mandatory from September 2024.

Fines for Absence & Improvement Notices:  Absence fines charged to parents are now £80, or £160 if not paid within 21 days. From Autumn term 2024, only two fines can be issued to the same parent for the same child within a three-year rolling period. Any notice thereafter will automatically be charged at £160. Parents will also receive "improvement notices", where they are are informed that this is their last opportunity to engage with education and improve their child's attendance before a fine is issued.

National fine thresholds:  Schools will have to consider a fine if a pupil misses 10 sessions (half days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. However, there is “not a blanket position of issuing or not issuing penalty notices”. The threshold can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence. For example, four sessions in term time plus six instances of arriving late.

Long-Term Sickness to be Flagged with Local Authorities: Schools will have to give councils the name and address of pupils who have been off sick who they believe will miss 15 consecutive or cumulative days. Schools will also be “expected to inform a pupil’s social worker and/or youth offending team worker if there are unexplained absences from school”.

All planned absences must be requested in advance via the Absence Request Form available from the School Office.

"Surely a few days off doesn't make that much difference?"

Family Holiday

This one of the reasons that causes a drop in attendance. Even just a one week holiday means that you can only achieve 97% attendance (assuming there is no other absence due to illness.)

There are 175 other days that you could go on holiday and it not have an impact on attendance and learning.

How do I know what my child's current attendance is?

You can ask the office or your class teacher to give you their current attendance at any time.

As part of our monthly attendance monitoring, you will receive a monitoring letter and a copy of the attendance certificate as soon as your child's attendance drops below 95%. You will invited to discuss this issue with a member of the school team and in the first instance our Parent Link Worker.

Each subsequent month we will inform you whether the attendance rate has increased or continued to decline.

We do this to raise awareness of current attendance and to deter further avoidable absences.

"But my child is ill and can't come to school?"

Reporting an Absence - if your child is unwell and unable to attend school, phone the school office on 01454 866790 and Press 1. This way we can ensure all absences are recorded correctly by 08:45. If we have not heard from you by this time, we WILL be contacting you and others on your emergency contact list, if necessary to ensure the safety and welfare of your child. We will also arrange a home visit if we are unable to contact you. On occasions it is necessary to contact Social Care or the Police to care out a welfare check.

Please ring on each day of absence, unless by prior arrangement with the office eg: in the case of chickenpox or sickness where a set number of days at home maybe required.  If parents are unsure about whether a child who has an illness should attend school, the NHS has some useful advice.

Please note - children must be 48 hours clear of sickness or diarrhoea before returning to school.