Attendance & Punctuality

At both of our Bushey Primary Education Federation schools, we work extremely hard to ensure children are learning to their best ability and are happy within our schools.

An essential part of this is every child’s punctuality and attendance.  Every child and parent/carer has a part to play, as well as every member of staff, in making sure that we have excellent standards for attendance and punctuality.

We have high expectations for all of our pupils and that starts with attendance. 

Designated Lead for attendance is Mrs T Harrington at Bushey & Oxhey Infant School, and Mrs A Forster at Bushey Manor Junior School.  Both members of staff meet termly with the Attendance Improvement Officer from Hertfordshire and review children for whom attendance at school is of concern.

OUR TARGET for 2024/2025 IS 97% ATTENDANCE.

Attendance should be at least 97%.  97% is the same as 6 days off school during the whole school year.

 You can read our full attendance policy by clicking on the link at the bottom of this web page.

WHY GOOD ATTENDANCE IS SO IMPORTANT:

At Bushey Primary Education Federation, we know that a good education gives children opportunities for life. A good education starts with good attendance. There is an abundance of research which evidences the impact of high school attendance rates in the primary school years correlating strongly with strong outcomes at GCSE and A'Level. Being at school daily gives children the best chance to learn and to get the most out of all that school has to offer, such as the chance to socialise and have friends and to be involved in a wider range of activities from sports to music.

Attendance is important in every year group; in early years children learn the foundations for all of their future learning, build relationships, and continue as they move up through our schools to strengthen their skills, knowledge and understanding.

Both of our Bushey Primary Education Federation schools are happy, successful schools and your child is part of that. We aim to give them the best opportunities for a successful future, where they quickly come to understand the importance and value of their contribution and commitment.  Children need to value education. They need to understand it is not something 'done to them' that they can opt out of, but something they are excited by, engaged in and feel part of.  Families need to believe, share and reinforce a strong ethic around the importance of education to best benefit their children. 

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS ABSENT:

If your child cannot come to school you must:

1. Phone the school, before 9.30am, to let us know that your child will be off and why.
2. If you do NOT contact school on the first day of absence we will try to contact you, this may include coming out to your house.
3. If you do not provide school with a reason for absence we have no choice but to mark it as unauthorised.
4. If your child has an appointment and will be off for part of the day you can show us the letter or appointment card. Medical appointments are made in advance and a separate form can be found at the bottom of the page which needs to be with the school, well in advance of the appointment date. 

WHAT SCHOOL DO IF YOUR CHILD IS ABSENT:

Every morning, our administration staff check who is absent and follow routine safeguarding and checking procedures. If you have not informed school about your child’s absence we will try to contact you. We will phone and may make a home visit to try and find out why your child is absent. If you have told the school why your child is absent but they are off school for longer than nine sessions, then school may phone to check on how your child is, or make a home visit. Both Federation schools record all reasons given for absence. If you do not provide a reason for why your child was off school we have to record that absence as unauthorised and safeguarding concerns might be raised. 

HOLIDAYS IN SCHOOL TIME:

Government rules about taking holidays in school time are strict and place the importance of a child being in school as paramount, and an absolute right of the child. In line with this, neither of our Federation schools can allow or authorise any holidays in term time, unless there are REALLY exceptional circumstances. Reasons that are NOT viewed as exceptional include spending time with unwell grandparents, dying wishes of grandparents to have a term-time family holiday, extended trips to other countries to visit wider family members and the need to take a family holiday during term time because it is financially viable for you. 

It is likely that parents/carers will receive a fine (Fixed Penalty Notice) from the council if they take their children on holiday during term time, if the period of absence is more than ten school sessions (five days). 

If you need time off during school time please fill in the form at the bottom of this web page and give it to the school office or email the form to school at the relevant office email address. These forms and requests are subject to external auditing of our procedures and our adherence to Government guidelines. 

HOW ABSENCES ARE COUNTED:

Attendance is counted in sessions. The school day is made up of two sessions, the morning and the afternoon. If a child is absent in the morning but comes into school in the afternoon they have missed one session, if they are absent for the whole day they have missed two sessions.

AUTHORISED ABSENCES:

This is when the school authorises an absence because they agree that the reason is acceptable.

Examples of when authorised leave might be permitted or accepted are as follows: 

• Illness severe enough to prevent the child coming to school
• Part of the day being missed for an essential medical appointment – routine check ups should not be done in school time
• Child participating in authorised activities linked to sport or drama e.g acting role, national sporting competition
• One day to attend a close family funeral or family wedding
• One day for accepted religious holidays

UNAUTHORISED ABSENCES:

This is when the school has not allowed the absences because the reason is not acceptable, for example:

• Taking a whole day off school for a medical appointment
• Minor illnesses or very frequent absence due to minor illness unless backed up with a medical note
• Holidays
• Birthdays or day trips
• Shopping
• Lapland
• Five(+) days trip for a family wedding elsewhere in the country/abroad (one day for wedding and one day for travelling is permitted) 

ABSENCES DUE TO EXTREME LATENESS:

Children are expected to be at school from 8.40am at Bushey Manor Junior School and 8.50am at Bushey & Oxhey Infant School. If a child arrives to school after registration period closes at 9.10am at Bushey Manor Junior School, and 9.20am at Bushey & Oxhey Infant School, they are considered so late that they will lose their morning mark. This type of absence is automatically an unauthorised absence and the child is recorded, by law, as having missed the entire session.  Parents are often surpised about this when we report attendance figures to them, so please be aware and note that being late by half an hour renders the WHOLE session to be recorded as an absence. 

PERSISTENT ABSENTEES:

This is the group of children that schools and the council must particularly concentrate on because there attendance is SO poor that their right to an education is being witheld from them. This is also a serious safeguarding issue. 

The Department for Education defines a child who is a Persistent Absentee as 'pupils who have a school attendance figure below a level of 90% school attendance'.

90% attendance means a child has been absent for 19 days in the school year.

Persistent absenteeism is monitored every half term and children who have missed a certain number of sessions (half days) will be considered at risk of becoming persistent absentees by the end of the school year.

Persistent absence is monitored, recorded and reported throughout the year and the names of children missing a high level of school time (regardless of the reason for absence) are collected by the Department for Education each half term and monitored. 

Persistent Absenteeism can result in legal action and is viewed and treated as a serious safeguarding concern. 

MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS:

We know that sometimes children need urgent appointments, or parents/carers are given very little choice about the times for hospital appointments. however most appointments are routine, e.g. dental check ups, non urgent GP appointments. A lot of school time is missed due to routine medical appointments that could be arranged for a different time. While we understand that it can be hard to get appointments, we encourage parents/carers to make appointments outside of school time, or at least at the very beginning or end of the school day so children miss the least amount of time.  Please complete the form at the bottom of this page, should you be withdrawing your child from school for a medical appointment. 

PERCENTAGES IN TERMS OF DAYS:

Parents are notified termly if their child's attendance falls below 90%. Even if the leave has been authorised, we are just making you aware that the figure has reached a level where your child is subject to additional monitoring. Some parents take issue with being informed about this and dislike the letters, particularly if there has been a one-off illness or good reason for absence.  Please try to remove the emotion from this information sharing around attendance.  We set up our computer systems to automatically send a letter to all parents/carers for whom their child's school attendance is falling below this key percentage at the end of a term, and for whom we will be reporting these figures externally.  It is important that we are transparent with you. We believe that in working together and being clear about potential issues that MAY be presenting for your child, then we are being  honest and open in raising your awareness and better enabling the right kind of conversations and communication between home and school. 

Please never feel the need to be defensive if your child's attendance is falling below 90%, defensiveness and anger with the school does not help your child, but instead work with us to ensure we can get your child back into school more regularly and improve the current low figure. 

It might be helpful to be aware of the following. Schools talk about attendance levels in terms of percentages but what does that actually mean in days?

There are 190 days in a school year.

Percentage level          Days in school           Days absent

during the year           during the year          during the year

     100%           =            190 days           =       0 days

     97%             =            184 days           =       6 days

     95%             =            180 day             =      10 days

     90%             =            171 days            =     19 days

     85%             =            161 days            =      29 days

     80%             =            152 days            =      38 days

It is significant for your child if their attendance rates are below 85% - this means, over a school year, they have missed a month of schooling and education.  All children have a right to an education and when some of our children routinely fall below this figure, we are robust in ensuring that their rights are protected and safeguarded. Poor attendance falls under our safeguarding responsibility and is a safeguarding issue, as clearly adults who are not prioritising their children's right to an education at these levels of absence are failing their children.  It is viewed as parental negligence. 

TIPS FOR GOOD ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY:

Children should go to bed early enough:

Tired children are hard to wake up and find it difficult to learn. Going to bed at a reasonable time makes things easier for them and you.

Be in school regularly an on time:

It is settling for children and helps them get into a routine. The more regularly they are in school and on time the more they feel settled and happy. 

Get up early enough:

Avoid rushing and feeling stressed. Get up early enough and give yourself enough time to get ready.

Limit TV or screen time in the morning:

Avoid arguments and lateness by limiting how long they are allowed to watch TV or play games in the morning (we would say not at all). If it regularly causes problems think about banning it completely in the mornings - most children who are regular attenders at school are not on devices before coming into school. 

We know from our work with children who have developed anxiety about coming to school in the morning, that tearing a child away from a game or screen to come to school exacerbates the issue and gives them a hurdle to overcome in terms of being calm, organised and ready to think and learn.  

Get things ready the night before:

If uniforms, reading books, packed lunches, etc. are ready the night before it saves a lot of time in the mornings - teach your child to take responsibility for this as soon as you can. 

Make time for breakfast:

Making time for breakfast can help to keep things calm in the morning, ensures that your child's health is prioritsed and saves time rather than having to stop at the shops on the way to school. It is parental responsiblity to get children up in good time for breakfast and school preparation.  This includes getting up in sufficient time for the walk/journey to school. We know that children who have a good, healthy breakfast in the morning do better at school.