Attendance and Absences

ATTENDANCE

We are very proud of our excellent attendance records at Stanley Park Junior School.  Regular attendance and good punctuality at school are legal requirements which have a significant impact on your child’s learning and are essential for children to access a broad, balanced curriculum and to exceed their potential.

At Stanley Park Junior School we expect excellent attendance. Ideally, children should be in school, on time, 100% of the time. This is essential if pupils are to take full advantage of the range of opportunities that school offers and gain the skills that will equip them for their next stage of education and for adult life. Good attendance is classed as 97% or above. 

We closely monitor each child's attendance.

If a child’s attendance and / or punctuality presents a concern, school staff will investigate and provide support, ultimately we may also seek support from the School/Local Authority Attendance Officer . 

Sometimes a child can be reluctant to come to school. If this is the case, the child’s class teacher should be informed as soon as possible. We will always help support families with strategies to improve their child's attendance.    

PUNCTUALITY

Being late adds up to a loss of learning.

In the interests of your child’s education the school monitors lateness.  Please ensure that your child arrives at school with plenty of time.  

• Y3/4 should be in school for 8.40am
• Y5/6 should be in school for 8.45am

Punctuality is very important as it can be distressing for your child if they miss important information which is given at the beginning of the school day. They may also miss early morning revision and information about their homework. 

All children arriving 10 mins after the times above must sign in at the school office and will be marked as "late" in the register.   It is extremely important that they sign in, as your child’s class teacher must know they have been registered for safeguarding purposes.

ABSENCE DUE TO ILLNESS

If your child is not well enough to attend school, you should inform the school by telephone or  e-mail office@spjs.org on each day of their absence before 9.00am and confirm the reason for absence.

 If your child has been sick or has had diarrhoea, then they should not return to school until 48 hours after the last bout of sickness or diarrhoea.  

Parents must provide medical evidence for any absences:

• of more than 4 consecutive days
• occuring directly before or after a school holiday
• occuring directly before Selective Eligibilty Tests or Common Entrance Exams.

If evidence is not supplied, the absence will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.

Medical evidence may also be requested if your child's overall attendance is less than 90% and further periods of illness occur.

ABSENCE FOR OTHER REASONS

In order to have requests for a leave of absence considered, parents should contact the headteacher in writing at least two weeks prior to the proposed start date of the leave of absence, providing the reason for the proposed absence and the dates during which the absence would be expected to occur.

The school will only grant a pupil a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances.

Applications for Leave of Absence must be made in advance and failure to do so will result in the absence being recorded as “unauthorised”. This may result in legal action against the parent, by way of a Fixed Penalty Notice. 

The school is highly unlikely to grant leave of absence for the purposes of family holidays.

Requests for leave will not be granted in the following circumstances:

•  Immediately before and during statutory assessment periods (as published on the school’s website)
• When a pupil’s attendance record shows any unauthorised absence
• Where a pupil’s authorised absence record is already above 10% for any reason.

 If term-time leave is not granted, taking a pupil out of school will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and will result in sanctions, such as a penalty notice. The school cannot grant leaves of absence retrospectively; therefore, any absences that were not approved by the school in advance will be marked as unauthorised.

Illness and Healthcare Appointments

Parents will be expected to make medical or dental appointments outside of school hours wherever possible. Where this is not possible, parents will be expected to obtain approval for their child’s absence to attend such appointments as far in advance as is practicable. Parents will be responsible for ensuring their child misses only the amount of time necessary to attend the appointment.

Proof of your appointment will be required. This can be in the form of a letter/email/screenshot of a text confirmation etc.  Your child will need to be collected from the school office where they will be signed in/out.

Other special circumstances

If you would like to request leave of absence for your child for any other special circumstances (e.g: family funeral, religious observance,  or an interview at another school),  you should write to the Headteacher, or send an email to office@spjs.org  detailing the situation. Absences will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.  

LOCAL AUTHORITY MONITORING

Our Local Authority Attendance Officer monitors our levels of absence and lateness very closely. Parents may be called in for a formal meeting if their children are persistently late for school, if they have a particularly poor level of attendance, or if a child’s absence has not been authorised by the Headteacher.

Under current legislation, a penalty notice may be issued to any parent who fails to ensure  their children’s regular attendance at school, please see the “National Framework for Penalty Notices: What you need to know”. (link below).