Attendance Guidance
ATTENDANCE MATTERS – EVERY SCHOOL DAY COUNTS
At West Hill Primary School, we promote and support families to achieve our 96% attendance target. We strongly believe that attending school regularly and on time will provide your child with the best possible start for later academic attainment and achievement. This will enable children to access further learning opportunities as well as gain better job prospects. Not attending school regularly will have a detrimental impact on their progress and attainment.
Every day and every minute of education counts so pupils who arrive late are missing out on their learning and developing poor routines for their future. The school gates open at 8:45 a.m. and any children arriving after the register is taken at 9:00 a.m. will be recorded as late. Pupils arriving without good reason after 9:15 a.m. will be marked as a ‘U’ which counts as a legal unauthorised absence.
PARENTS/CARERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
It is the responsibility and legal duty of parents/carers to ensure that their children attend school every day and receive a full-time education where possible. As a school we will work with families to help remove any barriers to achieving good attendance and punctuality. We aim to do this by establishing effective relationships with our families, offering internal support and strategies or, if this is not successful, by signposting to other external agencies for assistance before legal intervention is necessary. If you are struggling to get your child into school please let us know – we can help!
ABSENCE REPORTING
We understand there may be times when there is a genuine reason why your child cannot attend school. However, it is very important that you inform school on the first day of your child’s absence the reason for their non-attendance. Please call the school office on 01543 227125, use the absence dojo, or email admin@westhill.staffs.sch.uk. This should be done daily by 9:30 a.m.
We reserve the right, as part of our safeguarding responsibilities, to make a home visit if a child’s absence is causing concern as no contact has been made with school or we suspect that a holiday has been taken without request.
We strongly recommend that medical/dentist appointments are booked outside of school hours to reduce disruption to learning. However, if this is not possible, please provide the school office with proof of the appointment such as a medical card/text/or prescription details.
Key Points Continued on Attendance
Request for Leave (During Term Time) Form
National Framework for Penalty Notices on School Absence
Please see the New Regulations for Attendance Letter below:New Regulations for Attendance - Notice to Parents
Please find below attendance guidance with further new information for parents/carers regarding fines for holidays and unauthorised attendance:
New Attendance Guidance for Parents
Letter for School Start & End Times
Please see the Guidance Information Notice - Is my child too ill for school' below:
is my child too ill for school.pdf