Attendance

At St Mary's, we expect all children to achieve a minimum of 96% attendance.

We expect this because it is well known that missing school leads to children developing gaps in their learning. Being absent for just one lesson begins the formation of these 'gaps', missing information that children find almost impossible to catch up on and later becomes a barrier to their progression.

Who shall I telephone if my child is absent?

You must send a note in with your child on their first day back . If we don’t hear from you, we will ring to find out why your child is not in school. We reserve the right to make home visits to ensure the reason for absence is genuine. If you are planning a holiday or trip to visit relatives, please plan this during the school holidays. The Local Authority Attendance Improvement Officer (AIO) monitors our children’s attendance. As a school we expect a child’s attendance to be at 96%. We follow the law and will not authorise any holidays during term time

Absence Procedures

We monitor and review all pupils’ absence, and the reasons that are given, thoroughly.

If a child is absent from school, please follow these procedures:

• Contact the school (admin@stmarys698.herts.sch.uk or 01923 776529) on the first day of absence before 9am, when our register closes;
• The school has an answer phone available to leave a message if nobody is available to take your call. Please be aware that, if you leave a voicemail to report your child’s absence, you may receive a call from the school so that we may discuss the absence before making a decision as to whether the absence is to be recorded as authorized.
• Contact the school on every further day of absence, again before 9am
• Ensure that your child returns to school as soon as possible and you provide any medical evidence, if requested, to support the absence. Medical evidence may be requested (where school have reasonable doubt as to the authenticity of the absences) where your child is having multiple periods of absence which are reported as being due to medical reasons. When determining whether a child is too ill to attend school, both parents and school staff can consider the advice contained within the NHS Guidance on School Absence and Childhood Illness (Please only keep your child off if their illness is infectious, they have a temperature of 38°C or higher or they are too ill to attend school. )

If your child is absent, we will:

• Telephone or text you on everyday of absence, if we have not heard from you.  However, it is your responsibility to contact us.
• If we are unable to make contact with parents by telephone, we will telephone emergency contact numbers, send letters home and a home visit may be made, in the interests of safeguarding.
• School is required to inform the local authority of any pupils absent from school that is unexplainable and/or where absences amount to more than 10 or more sessions (1/2 a day), either consecutively or irregularly and have been unauthorised.  Schools are also under a safeguarding duty, under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 to investigate any unexplained/unauthorised absences.  At this point your child will be considered to be “absent from education”.
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If absence continues, we will:

• Write to you if your child’s attendance is below 96% / causing concern.
• Arrange a meeting so that you may discuss the situation with Mrs Maxwell
• Offer a Families First Assessment to ensure appropriate support is considered.
• Create a personalised robust support plan, such as an attendance contract, to address any barriers to attendance and make clear each person’s role in improving the attendance patterns of your child.
• Offer signposting support to other agencies or services, if appropriate.
• Seek advice, guidance and support from the Local Authority Statutory Attendance Support Team and consider appropriate legal sanctions, if attendance deteriorates following the above actions.

Term Time Holidays

As a school, we will not authorise term time absence. If you are requiring your child to have any time out of school which will be classed as unauthorised, you must book an appointment with Mrs Maxwell via the school office.

There is no entitlement in law for pupils to take time off during the term to go on holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure or recreation, or to take part in protest activity in school hours.  In addition, the Supreme Court has ruled that the definition of regular school attendance is “in accordance with the rules prescribed by the school.”

The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 set out the statutory requirements for schools.   All references to family holidays and extended leave have been removed. The amendments specify that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are "exceptional circumstances".

Punctuality

Poor punctuality is not acceptable; it is vital that children attend school on time each day, so they do not miss valuable learning time. Being 15 minutes late each day is equivalent to missing two weeks of school over an academic year.  Good timekeeping is a vital life skill which will help children as they progress through their school life and out into the wider world. 

Due to lateness having a detrimental effect on a child’s attendance, a ‘U’ code is added to a child’s register if they arrive past 8:50am. A ‘U’ code affects a child’s attendance by decreasing it by one session. If this becomes a recurring issue, Fixed Penalty Notices may apply. Therefore, please ensure your child is in school on time.

Pupils who arrive late disrupt lessons and, if a child misses the start of the day, they can feel unsettled and embarrassed and risk missing vital work and important messages from their class teacher.

The times of the start of the school day for all pupils at St Mary's School are:

Gates open and soft start: From 8:35am

School oficial start: 8.40am (Years 1, 2, 5 & 6) 8:45am (Reception, Years 3 & 4)

Registration closes: 8:50am

How we manage lateness: 

• The school day officially starts at 8.40am (Years 1, 2, 5 & 6) 8:45am (Reception, Years 3 & 4) when children can begin to come into school; 
• Children arriving after 8.50am are late and are required to come into school via the school office. They must sign them into our ‘Late Book’ and provide a reason for their lateness, which will be updated to their records.
• In accordance with the Regulations, if your child arrives after that time, they will receive a mark that shows them to be on site – ‘U’, but this will not count as a present mark and it will mean that they have an unauthorised absence;
• The school will contact parents/carers regarding punctuality concerns;

If your child has a persistent lateness record, you will be asked to meet with Mrs Maxwell.  Pleaase remember thatw e are here to help and you can approach us at any time if you are having difficulties getting your child to school on time regularly.  We expect parents and staff to encourage good punctuality by being good role models to our children and, as a school, we celebrate good class and individual punctuality. Unauthorised lateness could result in the school seeking advice and guidance from the Local Authority.