Attendance and Punctuality

We expect all children to have good attendance, classed as 96+% or above.

Good attendance is not simply a legal requirement. It 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.

All children are entitled to receive the full benefits of education; poor attendance is therefore a safeguarding issue.

We recognise punctuality as an important related issue as frequent lateness will cause children to miss aspects of their education, is upsetting for the child, and is disruptive to others.

Absence

If your child is absent, please contact the school, either by telephone or email, as soon as possible on the first day of absence and let us know.
The school telephone number is 020 8669 3978. If you do not contact the school to confirm why your child is absent, you will firstly receive a text message and then if we do not get a response, a phone call from the school office. We will then work through your child’s contact list in an attempt to get a response and a reason for their absence.

Once a child is registered at a school, the Parent/Carer is legally responsible for making sure that they attend regularly.
It is a Government requirement that schools publish a record of attendance. Parents who do not inform us of reasons for their child’s absence, or whose children are continually late, will be contacted by the school to request information and will be asked to provide medical evidence when their child is not attending due to medical reasons.

Good school attendance means your child attends school over 96+% of the time. Any child attending less than 90% is known as a persistent absentee, and the school has a duty to contact parents, hold meetings, and inform the Local Authority of these children. We may also carry out unannounced home visits.

The school will not agree to a child going on holiday in term time. Legislative guidelines issued by the Department for Education in November 2006 state that ‘Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances”. All requests for leave due to exceptional circumstances (which must be supported by documentation) should be made to the Headteacher, via letter or email. Leave should not be booked in advance of authorisation.

Any term time leave without approval is likely to be issued with a penalty notice. The fine is £80 if paid within 21 days of issue of the Penalty Notice, increasing to £160 if paid after this date, but within 28 days of issue. A penalty notice is issued to each parent in respect of each child not attending school.  A second Penalty Notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil within 3 years is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.  As a third Penalty Notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of the first PN, alternative legal intervention will be taken, which may include cases being presented straight to a Magistrates' Court.

Routine medical or dental appointments should be made outside school hours or in the holidays. If appointments during school are unavoidable, the school should be notified in advance and the absence should only be for the duration of the appointment and your child should attend for the rest of the day. An appointment card or letter to support your child’s absence will be required.

It is also important that children arrive at school on time every day and ready to learn. Registration is at 8:45 am and children who arrive after this time will receive a late mark. Children who are not in school by 9:15am will receive an unauthorised mark for that session. Please inform the class teacher (via the school office) in advance if your child will be arriving later because of a medical appointment. The Local Authority will be informed if children are persistently late or continually absent without good reason.

Being absent 1 or 2 days a week or arriving 10 minutes late every day might not seem like much but this soon adds up.

Attendance Incentives and Rewards

At Wallington Primary Academy we recognise good attendance.

Each half term rewards are given to individual children who have achieved 100% attendance in that period.

Certificates are awarded to individual children who have achieved 100% attendance over the whole year.

In addition, the team with the highest attendance for the week receives the attendance cup to display proudly in their classroom.

School Council will be consulting on the rewards for attendance of 96% and above.

Start and End of Day Policy

CPAT Attendance Policy

National Framework for Penalty Notices (effective from August 2024)