NCEA Warkworth C of E Aided Primary school actively encourages regular attendance. Children need to attend regularly if they are to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. Irregular attendance undermines the educational process and may lead to educational disadvantage.

While parents are primarily responsible for ensuring that their child(ren) attend school regularly and on-time, it is the schools responsibility to support attendance and to take any problems which may lead to non-attendance, seriously.

Our aims

• To support the holistic development of each and every child in school.
• To maintain and improve the overall attendance of children at school.
• To improve children’s attainment through good attendance.
• To encourage parents to ensure that children arrive at school on time.
• To make attendance a priority for all those associated with the school including parents, pupils, teachers and governors.

Our school day

Our school day starts at 8.45 am for Reception – Y6 pupils. Nursery pupils start at 9am. In Years 3,4,5 and 6 the school doors are open from 8.30 am .In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 the school doors are open from 8.40 am. Doors will be closed promptly at 8.45 am and then please bring your child to the school office. All children must be in their classes for registration otherwise they will be recorded as late in the school register. Our school day finishes at 3.15pm for Reception to Year 6 pupils (Nursery pupils finish at 3pm) and we ask all parents to pick their children up promptly please. If you know you are going to be late; please contact the school office.

Monitoring attendance

Attendance is monitored initially by Mrs Gibson (Office Manager) and it is overseen by the Head Teacher. Any issues identified concerning absence, illness or lateness will be addressed by the Education Welfare Officer (EWO) by letter, telephone or a meeting. If a pupil has been absent from school for more than a month, school will seek advice from the LEA reintegration officer.

Appointments

If your child has an appointment during the school day which is unavoidable and they will be late coming into school, please inform us in writing the day before the appointment. We are required, by Northumberland County Council to monitor reasons for absences.

Absence

Please see the guidance issued from Northumberland County Council on ‘Leave of absence in term time’. This guidance reflects the changes to The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2006 which came into force on the 1 September 2013. All children of statutory school age who are registered at a school must, by law attend that school regularly. Any absence from school can seriously disrupt a pupil’s continuity of learning and have a detrimental effect on their future progress.

This policy also makes it clear that headteachers ‘shall not’ grant any leave of absence during term time unless ‘exceptional circumstances’ exist. Therefore headteachers should determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if leave is granted for ‘exceptional circumstances’. Taking this into account, headteachers will have to assess each case individually.

Fixed Penalty Notices

It is at the Headteacher’s discretion as to whether a case should be referred to the Local Authority for a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) to be issued. The current threshold is ‘…a minimum absence of ten sessions (five school days) which are unauthorised must be recorded against a pupils named within a 6 to 12 school week period.’ A Headteacher must however consider the wider context before making the referral. If the Headteacher decides to issue a FPN, then parents/carers must be informed in writing that a request has been made to the Local Authority to issue an FPN. From September 2013, parents could pay £60.00 within 21 days or £120 within 28 days.

More information about attendance and punctuality can be found in our dedicated Attendance Policy on our Policies page.

Further Information and Resources