Wallands Community Primary Attendance
For a child to reach their full educational achievement a high level of school attendance is essential.
We are committed to providing an education of the highest quality for all our pupils and endeavour to provide an environment where all pupils feel valued and welcome. Parents and pupils play a part in making our school so successful.
Every child has a right to access the education to which he/she is entitled. Parents and teachers share the responsibility for supporting and promoting excellent school attendance and punctuality for all.
For our children to take full advantage of the educational opportunities offered it is vital your child is at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. High attainment, confidence with peers and staff, and future aspirations depend on good attendance.
Good attendance is important because:
- statistics show a direct link between under-achievement and attendance below 95%
- regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically
- regular attenders find school routines, school work and friendships easier to cope with
- regular attenders find learning more satisfying
- regular attenders are more successful in transferring between primary school, secondary school, and higher education, employment or training.
Many people think that missing the odd day at school here and there cannot do much harm. However, even taking a short amount of time can be a problem. Your child might fall behind in their work and not be able to catch up.
Arriving on time for school is important as late arrivals are disruptive for the class and can be embarrassing for the child who is late. Children can also miss important information during registration including the plan for the day.
Attendance is a key area that OfSTED focus on when they visit and they will look at the overall attendance during the school year and how this compares to last year as well as focusing on rates of persistent absence and what the school has in place to improve these. Our school attendance target is to be at 96% and above, in line with national expectations.
Attendance reminders:
- Gates open from 8.40am onwards.
- Class Start/End times:
- Reception to Year 6 - 8.50am - 3.20pm
- Language Centre - 8.50am - 3.20pm
- Nursery - 9 am - 3pm
- Late arrival is considered 5 minutes after these times, and this will be marked in the register.
- Once gates are closed, children should enter via reception area and a reason for lateness will be asked for.
- Arrival after 9.30am is recorded as unauthorised.
- Absence will not be authorised during term time except in exceptional circumstances. It is very important that all parents and carers understand that children with unauthorised absences, including holidays, and unexplained absences are at risk of receiving a Fixed Penalty Notice from East Sussex County Council.
- If you need to request absence from learning, please complete a Request for Withdrawal from Learning form, available from the school office or on the website, and return it to school.
- If your child has a hospital or emergency medical appointment, these will only be authorised if a letter or appointment card is shown at the office. Please make sure that, where possible, any medical appointments are made out of school hours. Doctors, dentists and opticians can usually accommodate this.
- If your child has an appointment during the day, where possible, they should register at school beforehand and return after the appointment. Most appointments will only be authorised for half a day.
Thank you for your support in helping to raise our school attendance. Children are sometimes reluctant to attend school, any problems with regular attendance are best sorted out between the school, the parents and the child. If you would like any support or advice on attendance, please speak to your child’s class teacher or to the Head teacher.
