Attendance

It is essential that children attend school as much as possible to make the best use of their education.

Current Attendance:

Updated 25.11.24

Attendance Awards

Every week, an attendance trophy is awarded to the class with the best attendance and is celebrated in assembly. In addition to this, any child who achieves 100% attendance every term will receive a certificate and an award!

Attendance Matters

If a child’s attendance becomes a cause of concern, the school will ring/write to home or make a home visit. Children whose attendance is below 90% are vulnerable to underachievement and are classed as persistently absent.

Absence from School

Illness: If your child is absent through illness, you should contact school on the first day. The school will contact parents if a child is absent without explanation. All absence is monitored and families will receive letters half termly to inform parents/carers of their child’s attendance. Parents of children with very low attendance face penalty notices from the authority. An absence can be “authorised” if children are out of school for illness and for medical appointments which genuinely cannot be made out of school hours. Absences for shopping trips or a day off for hairdressing appointments etc. are not valid reasons for keeping a child off school. These are recorded as “unauthorised absences” and details do appear on reports at the end of the year.

Appointments: If your child has to leave school during the day for an appointment (medical, dentist etc.) the school needs to be informed with as much notice as possible and appointment letters will be requested. Children will not be allowed out of school unless they are collected by a responsible adult.

Carers collecting children should first call at the school office. All children leaving school for such appointments will be issued with a pass. This is part of the Sheffield City Council strategy to reduce truancy. Please ensure that a pass is collected from the school office. You will be asked to produce this if you are stopped during a truancy sweep.

Leave of absence during term time: By law, Principals cannot grant any leave of absence to pupils during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.
We define exceptional to mean very rare, unusual or unforeseeable circumstances.
The academy considers each application for term-time absence individually, considering
the specific facts, circumstances, and relevant context behind the request. A leave of
absence is granted entirely at the Principal’s discretion. All parents/carers must complete a leave of absence form at least two weeks in advance and may be invited into the academy to discuss with a member of the attendance team.
Extended leave of absence is considered to be absences that extend beyond two weeks.
Parents/ carers will be invited into the academy for a meeting to discuss these requests.
Taking leave in term time will affect pupil’s education as much as any other absence and
we expect parents to support the academy by not taking pupil’s away in term time. Fixed
Penalty notices may be issued for unauthorised leave of absence, such as holidays.

Lateness

The beginning of the day is very important in all classrooms. It is essential for children to be punctual. Children arriving after 8.50am will be marked as late in the register and should go to the office to be recorded appropriately. However, if there are genuine reasons for lateness, please send your child late rather than miss an entire day.