Attendance and Reporting Absences
Attendance
At Bignold Primary School and Nursery we place great importance on good attendance and punctuality.
We know that a child’s attendance has a direct impact on their learning. Those children who are regularly absent from school and regularly late do not achieve their potential and do fall behind in class. Please support the school in this by ensuring that your child attends school regularly and arrives ready to learn and on time.
Attendance matters! It is important that your child gets to school on time and aims for 100% attendance!
Lost Learning due to Poor Attendance
The chart below identifies the possible amount of lost learning due to poor attendance. How does your child compare?
Attendance during the school year | Equals this number of days absent | Which is approx this many weeks absent | Which means this number of lessons mised |
| 90% | 19 days | 4 weeks | 100 lessons |
| 80% | 38 days | 8 weeks | 200 lessons |
| 70% | 57 days | 12 weeks | 300 lessons |
Frequent absence can add up to a considerable amount of lost learning and can seriously disadvantage your child in adult life.
Nationally primary pupil attendance is around 96%. This means that a child needs to attend school for at least 177 out of 190 days to meet national expectations.
For a child to reach their full educational achievement a high level of school attendance is essential. There is a clear and proven link between low attendance and academic outcomes with pupils who regularly miss out on learning at risk of falling significantly behind their peers. Parents are responsible for ensuring that their child attends school.
Absence Procedures
Parents must inform the school office before 8:30am; leaving a message on the school absence line (01603 625721). When leaving a message please state the following:
- Child's name
- Class
- Detailed reason for absence for example Matt has been sick in the night rather than Matt is unwell.
If a child is absent from school without a reason being provided, the office staff will contact parents to ascertain the reasons for any absences, by leaving a detailed message it will save us having to make this contact call.
If a child is absent without a reason being provided, school staff may carry out a welfare visit to the home address or request that the police carry out a welfare visit.
The attendance rate of all children is regularly monitored. If poor attendance is significant, parents will be contacted by letter asking them to meet with a school representative to discuss the issue. If no improvement is made, we are obliged to follow Norfolk County Council procedures which can result in parents receiving a fine.
Term-time absence
Holidays in term time can not be authorised.
Permission for term-time absence will only be authorised if there are exceptional circumstances. A request form must be submitted to the Headteacher via the school office with full details of the exceptional reasons why a child needs to be absent from school. The Headteacher will respond to all requests.
Please note, absence to observe certain major religious festivals may be authorised but we are not able to authorise travelling days if families choose to go to another country or part of the country to mark a festival.
Sickness & Medical Appointments
If you need to take your child out of school during the day for a medical appointment, we ask that you come to the school office, where you can sign him/her out. After a medical appointment, please bring your child to the school office when they return.
If your child is going to be absent from school because they have a medical appointment, please bring any letters or appointment cards you have been sent or given to the school office. We are aware that if you have a doctors appointment you may not have any documentation but please inform the office. If we do not know why your child is not in school then their absence will be recorded as unauthorised and persistent poor attendance can lead to parents receiving a fine.