Whole School Attendance

School Attendance Information

The Governors and staff at Glasshoughton Infant Academy are keen to ensure that every pupil achieves their full potential. Any letter, flyer or newsletter you receive relating to attendance has one overall aim; to provide you with information in relation to your child’s attendance and education.

Research shows that poor attendance has a negative impact on children’s social and academic attainment. Furthermore, if children regularly miss school in their first few years of education, they are more likely to continue these patterns into junior and secondary school and to struggle with their school work.

At Glasshoughton Infant Academy we want to support your child in attending school every day, on time, so they have the best possible chance of reaching their full potential.

What is good attendance?

Procedures for absences

• If your child is absent, please contact the school office before 9.15am, giving a reason for the absence.
• For safeguarding reasons, if you do not contact school, we will telephone the contact numbers provided on your child’s admission form, including if necessary, those of other family members or friends. In some cases, this may be followed up by a home visit.
• We ask that you contact school on each day of absence, unless you have already given us a date for your child’s return.

Living with Covid 19

We recognise that children may need to be absent from school due to having to stay at home following a positive test result for Covid.  If a child has symptoms, we ask that parents test the child as soon as possible and inform school of the result. A child can return to school, providing they are well and with no temperature, 3 days after the positive test result.

Remote learning is available each week on the school website and will also be sent via Parentmail. Glasshoughton Infant Academy – Home Learning (Nursery – Year 2)

Learning can be uploaded to Class Dojo for feedback from your child’s class teacher.

Procedures for lateness

• The school doors are closed promptly at 9am. If your child arrives after 9am, you will need bring them to the school office and sign them in.
• Children arriving after 9am will be recorded as late in the register.
• Registers are called in accordance with Local Authority guidlelines in the morning and afternoon.    Registers are closed 25 minutes after the start time.  Children arriving after that time without a valid reason are recorded as having an unauthorised absence for that session.

Medical appointments

Please make any routine appointments such as dental check-ups, opticians appointments, non-urgent doctor’s appointments etc. after school or in school holidays. For hospital appointments, it is often possible to ask for a later appointment to minimise the amount of lesson time your child will miss. If your child does need to be taken out of school for a medical appointment, please bring the appointment card or letter to the office so the absence can be authorised. Please bring your child to school before and after the appointment.

Holidays in term time

In line with government guidelines, holidays in term time are not authorised and taking your child on a term time holiday may result in the issuing of a Penalty Notice. The Penalty Notice fine is £60 per child, per parent, if paid within 21 days. If it is not paid within 21 days, the fine rises to £120 per parent, per child, if paid within 28 days. Non-payment of the fine will lead to court action. The Penalty Notice fine is issued by the local authority and is sent by post following the holiday.

Any absences following the holiday, even those due to illness, may result in your child’s attendance falling below 90% and this could lead to the issuing of a further Penalty Notice.

The school holiday dates are published well in advance so parents have the information they need before booking holidays.

Attendance rewards

We monitor attendance daily and celebrate good attendance weekly in assembly. A school ‘Connect 4’ board is used to reward weekly class attendance. When a class reach the school target of at least 96.5%, they receive a token for Connect 4 and collect their whole class reward e.g. a 10 minute disco or extra playtime. When the class gets 4 tokens in a row on the Connect 4 board, they collect a bigger reward e.g. afternoon tea or a movie and popcorn.

Every term, all children who reach our attendance target of 96.5% receive a certificate and badge. Improved attendance is also celebrated with certificates.

Working together

At the end of each term, so you are kept fully informed, you will receive a letter with your child’s attendance percentage for the term and the school year. If your child’s attendance is below target you may receive additional letters to keep you informed of progress to improve.

If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance, for example, if your child is upset about coming to school, please talk to the class teacher or to the family mentor. We will work with you and your child to address any concerns and ensure they are settled and happy in school.

If we are concerned about your child’s attendance, the school’s family mentor will discuss this with you and offer support. If attendance doesn’t improve then you would be asked to attend a meeting with our Education Welfare Officer. You may be asked to provide medical evidence of any absences due to illness. If your child’s attendance still does not improve, then the ‘Fast Track to Attendance’ procedure would be followed, giving a 6 week period of time to improve your child’s attendance. Failure to improve your child’s attendance could result in the issuing of a Penalty Notice.

GIA Annual School Attendance