The Bliss Charity School
Attendance Policy
Mission Statement
The Bliss Charity School aims to provide a caring, secure and enriching experience; each child is
encouraged to develop strong personal, academic, physical and creative skills for lifelong learning.
Signed Chair of Governors
Date Governors Approved
Date of Review
Regular school attendance is to be encouraged. Pupils need to attend regularly if they are to take
full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. Irregular attendance undermines
the educational process. It is, therefore, viewed as a key task by the Headteacher to ensure
maximum attendance of all pupils, wherever possible.
Responsibilities
Parents should ensure that their children attend school regularly and that they arrive on time,
properly attired and in a condition to learn.
Parental contact on the first day of absence is the expectation. This may be by telephone, sending a
message with another person or by calling into the school. All verbal messages given to the school
are written down and filed in the register. A pupils absence from school is considered as
unauthorised until a satisfactory explanation is received form the parent.
Parents have a legal duty to send children of compulsory school age to school regularly and are at
risk of prosecution if they fail to do so.
Parents should avoid making medical/dental appointments for their child during school hours.
Holidays should not be taken in term time.
Staff will endeavour to encourage good attendance and punctuality.
Any absenteeism will initially be investigated by the class teacher, liaising closely with parents. If
further enquiry is necessary the Headteacher will be informed by the class teacher.
Registers
The attendance register is completed at the beginning of morning school and during the afternoon
session.
Attention to absence codes is given when marking the register.
Registers are sent to the school office at the beginning of each session.
Registers are viewed weekly by the Headteacher.
Attendance and absences are considered, with unauthorised absences being addressed.
Attendance Policy
Page 1
07/11/2011
Children arriving at school after the register is closed are recorded as late arrivals and the child’s
name and time of arrival is recorded in the late book.
Arrival at school after 9.30am is classes as an absence and will be registered as unauthorised unless
and appropriate explanation is received.
The school decides whether an absence is to be authorised or unauthorised. A letter of other
communication does not in itself authorise an absence.
Absence, expectations and follow-up
Parents should notify the school of reasons for absence on the first day.
Procedure when school has not been notified:
1. If contact with the parents cannot be made in order to ask the reason for the absence, the
office sends a letter home.
2. If a response is not made to this, then the office informs the Headteacher who then sends a
further letter.
3. The Headteacher may contact the parents by telephone and invite them to discuss the
situation.
4. If a response is still not made then a further letter is sent, and the EWO may be asked to visit
the home.
5. All telephone calls to the office are logged, with a copy of the message being placed in the
register. The office monitors attendance weekly and may telephone parents who have not
informed the school of reasons for absence.
6. Absences from school other than illness, are at the discretion of the Headteacher. Parents
must gain the written permission of the Headteacher through the holiday request form before
taking their child out of school on holiday. A maximum of ten days per school year are
permitted.
Absence from school will be authorised if it is for the following reasons:
Illness
Unavoidable medical/dental appointments
Days of religious observance
Exceptional family circumstances
Holidays authorised by the Headteacher
Absences will not be authorised for:
Shopping
Birthdays
Caring for relatives
Lateness
Lateness is to be discouraged and continual late arrival at school will warrant investigation by the
Headteacher.
A record of all late arrivals is maintained in the school office.
The parents of children who are continually late will be invited to discuss the situation with the
Headteacher.
If late arrival does not show an improvement, then the EWO will be contacted.
Attendance Policy
Page 2
07/11/2011
All attendance registers are maintained in accordance with The Education (Pupil Registration)
(Amendment) Regulations 1997.
Strategies for promoting attendance
School promotes and environment where the pupils feel valued and welcomed.
The children are made to feel that their presence at school is important and that they will be
missed if they are absent or late.
Attendance data is monitored.
High attendance awards will be presented each term.
Parents will be reminded through newsletters.
The Headteacher will report annually to the governing body on attendance matters.
Attendance Policy
Page 3
07/11/2011
Appendix 1
Management Strategy
Data needed to:
Publish
LEA monitoring
Pupil reports
For incentives
To identify absence/late patterns
For internal management purposes
For the DfEE
Information is gathered from registers for
Individuals – weekly by Headteacher and by class teacher annually
Class groups – half termly
Whole school – as necessary
Attendance Policy
Page 4
07/11/2011
Appendix 2
School Alone Children
Guidelines for schools when children are not collected
Introduction
On rare occasions, instances do occur where children of primary school age are left uncollected for
considerable lengths of time. These guidelines are written to help staff in school to respond
sensitively yet consistently to ensure the safety and welfare of the child. They have been developed
in conjunction with colleagues in social services and the police.
Parental Information
On admission to a school, parents should provide accurate information about:
Who holds parental responsibility; their names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Two or three emergency contact persons and telephone numbers.
School policy on delivery and collection from school. (School must be notified if someone
other than a parent/carer is collecting a child on any day).
This information should be updated at least annually and parents must be told of the need to inform
the Headteacher if there are changes to the details given at admission.
Parents must be clear about the time the school day ends.
Children not collected
If any child is not collected from school thirty minutes after the end of the school day, the
Headteacher will telephone (if possible) the parent(s).
If there is not response, the Headteacher will contact those persons identified as emergency contact
numbers.
If there is not response, the Headteacher will telephone the parent(s) a second time. Should there
still be no reply the local police should be informed of the situation. The Headteacher should also
contact the referral and assessment team of the local Social Services to inform them of a possible
problem.
If the child remains uncollected, sixty minutes after the end of the school day, the police will be
asked to collect the child and take to a place of safety.
Details, timed records of the action taken by the Headteacher should be kept. Consideration should
be given to subsequently notifying Social Services to investigate the circumstances under child
protection or child welfare procedures/services.
The Education Welfare Officer should also be informed of the incident.
Attendance Policy
Page 5
07/11/2011
Appendix 3
Attendance Registers
Guidance on Attendance Registers is set out in Annex A of DfEE Circular 10/99. The following is
the LEA’s suggested absence codes
Present at registration (am) / (pm) \ (black pen)
0 (red pen) Absence – filled when we have had notification for the reason for absence with one
of the following codes.
C Authorised circumstance not covered by the other codes
I Illness
H Family holiday for which a leave of absence form has been filled.
M Medical or dental appointment, out for whole session.
L Late (before registration closed)
Notes
1. Absence will be deemed to be unauthorised for that session if no communication from parents
is received and where none of the conditions outlined under authorised absences apply. If in
doubt, the Education Welfare Officer will advise.
2. Notes/telephone messages should be dated and should be dated and should be related to
precise periods of absence.
3. Where a pupil arrives after the closure of the register, he should be marked as “late”. Where
that arrival is more than thirty minutes after the closure of the register, he shall be marked as
unauthorised absent in the register, although the arrival time should still be recorded in the late
book. It is essential to have a system which notes the time of arrival of all late pupils.
4. Parents should not normally take pupils on holiday during term-time. Each request for
holiday absence should be considered individually taking account of:
Age of the child
Time of year proposed for the trip, nature and parental wishes
The overall attendance profile of the child
The child’s stage of education and progress
If the school does not agree the absence and the pupil goes on holiday, the absence is
unauthorised.
Where parents keep a child away longer that the period agreed, the additional days are
unauthorised.
Schools may delete from the roll a child who fails to return within ten school days of the
agreed return date unless there is good reason for the continued absence, such as illness.
Only in exceptional circumstances should schools agree absence of more than ten days in a
school year (and should not regard ten days as the norm).
Attendance Policy
Page 6
07/11/2011