Attendance & Absence

At Westfield we pride ourselves on our exemplary attendance of both staff and pupils.

Research has shown that children who attend regularly do well in school and perform to their potential. Attendance matters and is vital to a child’s progress and attainment. Schools are exciting places to be and education can make a child’s life better and no child should be deprived of that opportunity. Good attendance is a partnership between school and parents; this policy seeks to clarify the school’s position on attendance.

Punctuality/Lateness

• Classroom doors open at 8:40am.
• The morning register will be marked by 8:50am. Pupils will receive a late mark if they are not in their classroom by this time. Pupils attending after this time will receive a mark to show that they were on site, but this will count as a late mark.
• The morning register will close at 9:20am.  Arrivals after 9:20am will be recorded as ‘late after registration has closed’.  This will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and will affect a pupil’s overall attendance.
• The afternoon register will be marked by 1:00pm or 1:30pm depending on lunchtime sittings. Pupils will receive a late mark if they are not in their classroom by this time.
• The afternoon register will close at 1:20pm or 1:50pm depending on lunchtime sittings. Arrivals after 1:20pm or 1:50pm depending on lunchtime sittings will be recorded as ‘late after registration has closed’.  This will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and will affect a pupil’s overall attendance.

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Absence Procedures

Parents will be required to contact the school office via telephone before 9:00am on the first day of their child’s absence – they will be expected to provide an explanation for the absence and an estimation of how long the absence will last, e.g. one school day.

Where a pupil is absent, and their parent has not contacted the school by the close of morning registration, administrative staff will contact the parent by telephone call as soon as is practicable on the first day that they do not attend school.

The school will always follow up any absences in order to:

• Ascertain the reason for the absence.
• Ensure the proper safeguarding action is being taken.
• Identify whether the absence is authorised or not.
• Identify the correct code to use to enter the data onto the school census system.

Where a pupil is absent for more than four school days in a row, staff may be required to undertake home visits to establish the welfare of a pupil and/or to work with parents to support and improve their child’s attendance.

The school will not request medical evidence in most circumstances where a pupil is absent due to illness; however, the school reserves the right to request supporting evidence where there is genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness.

In the case of persistent absence (90%), arrangements will be made for parents to meet with the Attendance Lead. The school will inform the LA, on a termly basis, of the details of pupils who fail to attend regularly, or who have missed 10 school days or more without authorisation.

Where a pupil has not returned to school for 10 days after an authorised absence, or is absent from school without authorisation for 20 consecutive school days, the school will remove the pupil from the admissions register if the school and the LA have failed to establish the whereabouts of the pupil after making reasonable enquiries.

Leave of Absence

Parents will be required to request certain types of absence in advance. All requests for absence will be handled by the Headteacher – the decision to grant or refuse the request will be at the sole discretion of the Headteacher, taking the best interests of the pupil and the impact on the pupil’s education into account. The Headteacher’s decision is not subject to appeal; however, the school will be sympathetic to requests for absence by parents and will not deny any request without good reason.

The school will only grant a pupil a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. In order to have requests for a leave of absence considered, the school will expect parents to contact the Headteacher using a ‘Leave of Absence Request Form’ 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.

Any requests for leave during term time will be considered on an individual basis and the pupil’s previous attendance record will be taken into account. Where the absence is granted, the Headteacher will determine the length of time that the pupil can be away from school.

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

• Immediately before and during statutory assessment periods
• 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 may 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.

Holiday Requests

Parents do not have any entitlement to take their children on holiday during term time therefore the school is not likely to grant leaves of absence for the purposes of family holidays unless there are exceptional circumstances.

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.

Performances and activities, including paid work

The school will ensure that all pupils engaging in performances or activities, whether they receive payment or not, which require them to be absent from school, understand that they will be required to obtain a licence from the LA which authorises the school’s absence(s).

Additional arrangements will be made by the school for pupils engaging in performances or activities that require them to be absent from school to ensure they do not fall behind in their education – this may involve private teaching. These arrangements will be approved by the LA who will ensure that the arrangements are suitable for the pupil.

The pupil will receive education that, when taken together over the term of the licence, amounts to a minimum of three hours per day that the pupil would be required to attend a school maintained by the LA issuing the licence. This requirement will be met by ensuring a pupil receives an education:

• For not less than six hours a week; and
• During each complete period of four weeks (or if there is a period of less than four weeks, then during that period), for periods of time not less than three hours a day; and
• On days where the pupil would be required to attend school if they were attending a school maintained by the LA; and
• For not more than five hours on any such day.

Where a licence has been granted by the LA and it specifies dates of absence, no further authorisation will be needed from the school. Where an application does not specify dates, and it has been approved by the LA, it is at the discretion of the headteacher to authorise the leave of absence for each day. The Headteacher will not authorise any absences which would mean that a pupil’s attendance would fall below 95%.  Where a licence has not been obtained, the Headteacher will not authorise any absence for a performance or activity.

Religious observance

Parents will be expected to request absence for religious observance in advance.

The school will only accept requests from parents for absence on grounds of religious observance for days that are exclusively set apart for religious observance by the relevant religious body. The school will define this as a day where the pupil’s parents would be expected by an established religious body to stay away from their employment to mark the occasion.

The school may seek advice from the religious body in question where there is doubt over the request.

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller absence

Where a pupil’s parent belongs to a community covered by this code and is travelling for occupational purposes, the parent will be expected to request a leave of absence for their child in advance. Absences will not be granted for pupils from these communities under this code for reasons other than travel for occupational purposes.

Penalty Notices