Attendance

Please e-mail us using:  attendance@brackenedge.org.uk if you need any help or assistance or want to report an absence. 

What is good attendance and why is it important to us?

• Safe, healthy and successful children
• In school, on time, ready to learn

Children who miss school frequently are more likely to fall behind and have lower attainment. Children sometimes have to miss school because of an illness or if they have long term medical issues. If this is the case, parents should contact school the same day to let us know the reason that their child is not in school.

Going to school regularly is important for your child’s future. Parents are responsible for making sure their children receive full-time education. Talking to your child and their teachers could help solve any problems if your child does not want to go to school.

Regular school attendance

Good attendance shows secondary schools that your child is reliable.

Bracken Edge Primary School records details of all children’s attendance and absence from school. We do so at the beginning of morning and afternoon sessions. If your child is absent, you must inform the school immediately.

The school will record the absence and the Local Authority will receive this information for each child. The Department of Education also receives annual attendance data for the school.

PUNCTUALITY

Being late for school makes it hard for your child to learn. The school day is designed to ensure all our children receive the legal time required for each subject. It may not seem much being a few minutes late but over the course of a week it mounts up, the chart below shows how much learning time your child could miss.

Please note the DFE (Department for Education is the Government’s department to share their views with schools and parents) and it sets the expectation that parents and carers are to ensure their children attend school 95% of the time. No child is expected to be absent from school on holiday during term time. In very exceptional circumstances, and only if your child has an excellent attendance record, the headteacher may authorise up to 10 days absence and this must be requested in advance.

If you take your child out of school without permission, you may be issued with a fine by Leeds City Council on your return, this is £60 per parent, £60 per child (eg a family of four with two parents and two children would be fined a total of £240). For more details please see Ms Ahmad, who is our attendance officer.

Your responsibilities as a parent

By law, all children of compulsory school age must receive a suitable full-time education. For most parents, this means registering their child at a school. Although some parents choose to make other arrangements to provide a suitable, full-time education.

Once your child is registered at Bracken Edge Primary School, the parent is legally responsible for making sure they attend on a regular basis.  If your child does not attend school on a regular basis, you could be subject to a fine or be prosecuted in court.

How to prevent your child from missing school

You can help prevent your child missing school by:

• making sure they understand the importance of good attendance and punctuality.
• taking an interest in their education, ask about schoolwork and encourage them to get involved in school activities.
• discussing any problems they may have at school and letting their teacher or principal know about anything serious.
• not letting children take time off school for minor ailments, particularly those which would not prevent you from going to work.

To avoid disrupting your child’s education, you should arrange appointments and outings:

• after school hours.
• at weekends.
• during school holidays.
• You should not expect Bracken Edge Primary School to agree to your child going on holiday during term time.

Support on school attendance

A child’s school attendance can be affected if there are problems with:

• Bullying.
• Housing or care arrangements.
• Transport to and from school.
• Work and money.

If your child starts missing school, you might not know there is a problem.  If there is a problem, please approach their teacher or the school attendance team.

Our designated senior leader responsible for attendance is Mrs Lunn and our attendance Officer is Ms Ahmad

NHS Guidance explaining when children should/shouldn’t be kept off school - Is my child too ill for school?

Bracken Edge Primary approach to supporting and improving school attendance.

The Strategic Approach

Bracken Edge Primary School adopts the 5 Foundations of Effective Attendance Practice framework, this is modelled on the work of Professor Katherine Weare. The emphasis is on developing a school culture and climate which builds a sense of connectedness and belonging to ensure all children can attend school and thrive.  The approach ensures we prioritise building solid working relationships with children / parents prior to any escalation.  The staged approach we use ensures we identify triggers early that can lead to poor attendance issues such as mental health issues, lack of trust, communication and relationship breakdowns and the possible lack of networking opportunities both internal (in-school) and external (external agencies).

The Foundations framework has most recently been reviewed by the Department for Education.  The Foundations framework received an excellent report following the four-day review. 

“The Foundations approach is an excellent example of best practice; there are very clear and detailed systems and procedures in place to manage absence and attendance consistently”. 

(Michelle O’Dell DFE Attendance Advisor March 2022)

Aims of the strategy

• Increase school Attendance and reduce Persistent Absence to meet set targets.
• Ensure Attendance is well managed within the school, with the appropriate level of resources allocated.
• Enable the school to make informed use of Attendance data to target interventions appropriately, focusing on the key demographic groups highlighted in the 2022 DFE paper.

Objectives 

-create an ethos within the school in which good attendance is recognised as the norm and every child/young person aims for excellent attendance.

-make attendance and punctuality a priority.

-set focused targets to improve individual attendance and whole school attendance levels.

-embed the 5 Foundations of Effective Attendance Practice framework which defines agreed roles and responsibilities and promotes consistency in carrying out designated tasks with respect to promoting attendance and punctuality.

-record and monitor attendance and absenteeism and apply appropriate strategies to minimise absenteeism.

-develop a systematic approach to gathering and analysing relevant attendance data.

-provide support, advice and guidance to; parents, children and young people and develop mutual cooperation between home and the school in encouraging good attendance and in addressing identified attendance issues.

Please find below:

2023-24 Attendance Policy

The 5 Foundations of Effective Attendance Practice

Department for Education Summary of responsibilities

Department for Education Working together to improve school attendance