Why regular attendance is so important

South Camberley Primary and Nursery School is an inclusive school and we wish for all children to have the best educational experience they can. Regular school attendance is an important part of giving children the best possible start in life. The aim should be to attend 100% of the time. Regular attendance at school helps to develop:

• Friendships
• Social skills
• Team values
• Life skills
• Cultural awareness
• Career pathways

If a child is regularly absent, they will fall behind with learning. Therefore, attendance is fundamental in making sure young people become successful learners. When children attend school consistently, they are more likely to do well in their work, but also build strong relationships and feel connected with the school community.

Why is it so important to attend every day?

Learning is a progressive activity; each day’s lessons build upon those of the previous days. Classes also use discussions, demonstrations, experiments and participation as part of the daily learning activities and these cannot be made up by those who are absent.

Every day in school makes a difference to your child’s future 
Attendance matters to every child, every day

Punctuality 

Being late affects both your child’s learning and that of the rest of the class.  Important instructions are missed and having to join the class when everybody else is settled and ready to learn can embarrass and worry many children.

We operate a soft start, so pupils may arrive on site as from 8.30am and go straight to their classroom, to start their early morning activity.

Children should be in their classroom at their allotted registration time (see above). Any child arriving after this time will receive an L mark (late).

Arriving 30 minutes or more after registration receives a U mark, which counts as an unauthorised absence for that morning. This therefore counts against attendance as well as punctuality.

Leave of absence requests

The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 state that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Headteacher will determine the number of school days to be authorised. In the small amount of cases in which leave is granted, proof may be required to validate your request. In order to request a Leave of Absence we require you to submit a form stating your exceptional circumstances which can be found at the bottom of this page or in each school office.

In accordance with the above Regulations, requests for leave of absence are treated sympathetically, but only in exceptional circumstances can they be approved. Government Regulations state that parents who take their child out of school during term time, without the authority of the Headteacher, will each be liable to receive a penalty notice. Penalty Notices will be issued by the Local Authority and in Surrey it has been agreed that Penalty Notices will only be issued where 5 days unauthorised ‘leave of absence’ is taken. These absences do not have to be consecutive but could be accumulated over a 3 month period.

Penalty Notices

If parents/carers take their children out of school without authority for 5 or more days (which do not have to be consecutive), they will be liable to receive a penalty notice. Currently the amount payable under a penalty notice is £60.00 per parent/carer per child if paid within 21 days. Thereafter the amount increases to £120.00 if paid between 21 and 28 days. If the penalty notice remains unpaid after 28 days, the Local Authority will consider a prosecution in the Magistrates Court. Please note that penalty notices are issued per parent/carer per child so a family of two parents and two children will receive 4 penalty notices.

Attendance Incentives

We have devised a programme of incentives to encourage excellent attendance and punctuality and we will revisit them periodically.

We will celebrate ‘best class attendance’ and ‘best class punctuality’ each week. As well as certificates for their classroom doors, KS1 will keep the Attendance Bear in their class as a reward and KS2 will have a trophy.

Each term  those with the highest attendance will receive a personalised certificate.

The class with the highest attendance on each site will get an invitation to have hot chocolate with a member of the Senior Leadership Team. 

Pupils who have the ‘most improved’ attendance and punctuality will also be recognised.

At the end of each term, a special assembly will celebrate pupils who have achieved 100% attendance for that term. As well as collecting a badge and certificate, their names will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win a Grand Prize at the end of the year!