At Regent Farm First School we are working closely as a school community to improve our attendance levels so that each child is given the opportunity to achieve their full potential. By law, all children of compulsory school age must receive a suitable full-time education. Once your child is registered at school, you are legally responsible for making sure that they attend regularly. If your child fails to do so, you risk getting a penalty notice or being prosecuted.

Good attendance is a skill for life and attendance has an impact on a child’s whole school experience. As well as affecting your child’s academic potential, poor or irregular attendance can have an impact on your child’s friendships, self-esteem and confidence.

We strongly believe that there is a direct link between pupil progress and confidence and their level of attendance. We take seriously our responsibility of monitoring and addressing attendance issues and acknowledge that irregular attendance seriously disrupts the continuity of learning for pupils. It is essential that home and school work together to ensure all pupils at Regent Farm First School get the best start in life.

Our Responsibility as a School:

Regent Farm First School is responsible for ensuring that children have good attendance by:

• Providing a curriculum that is engaging and meets the needs of all learners.
• Ensuring that attendance registers are kept accurately, using all necessary register codes.
• Differentiating appropriately between authorised and unauthorised absence (a letter from a parent does not authorise an absence, only the school can decide if the reason justifies authorising the absence).
• Contacting parents when there is concern about a child’s absence either by phone or letter.
• Phoning parents on the first day of absence if a reason for absence has not been received.
• Consulting with the Family Support Adviser when we have concerns around pupil’s attendance to see how school can support the family.
• Following the Children Missing Education guidance if required.
• Making a referral to the any necessary service such as Early Help, Children’s Service or the police.
• Acknowledging good attendance of pupils or classes (e.g. assemblies, certificates or prizes).
• Giving pupil attendance updates through our website, assemblies, parent noticeboards and newsletters.
• Issuing termly attendance letters and including a full attendance certificate in annual reports.
• Continuing to undertake regular attendance audits.

Parent’s Responsibilities

The Education Act 1996 states that all children should attend school regularly and punctually. The Act states, “If a child of compulsory school age who is registered at a school fails to attend regularly at the school, his/her parent is guilty of an offence”.

We ask parents to work with us to ensure good attendance by:

• Ensuring your child arrives on time every day at 8.55am.
• Notifying school on the first day of absence by phone if your child is unable to attend school.
• Providing medical information if requested.
• Wherever possible make medical/dental appointments outside of school hours.
• Not taking holidays in term time.
• Working with the school to improve any dipping attendance quickly.

From September 2019 we have introduced a traffic light letter system to report to parents on a termly basis about how well your child is attending. Below you will find an explanation of the colour coding system. If you have any questions about attendance please don’t hesitate to speak to school.