Good attendance is linked with achievement in school, this is why here at Trinity All Saints we consider arriving at school on time and attending every day extremely important.

Children who come to school regularly are more likely to:

• Achieve good standards of work
• Get on well with other children and have good friends
• Develop positive attitudes to work which will help them later on in life whatever their choice of career may be in adult life

Children who are frequently absent are more likely to:

• Fall behind in their work
• Find it difficult to make and keep friends
• Be unhappy at school
• Have a poor attitude to work
• Get involved in crime, drug use and anti-social behaviour

Of course, some absences are unavoidable.  If a child is genuinely ill then we understand why he/she needs to stay off school.  We know that parents want the best for their children, and we want to encourage parents to make their child's education a priority, so that at Trinity All Saints C of E Primary School children can achieve their best.  Regular attendance at school is an important part of helping your children to achieve.  Attendance at school has a direct effect on academic achievement, this is particularly marked when our children enter Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 because of Standard Assessment Tasks and Tests and again at upper school because of public examinations.  No pupil should register an attendance score of less than 94%.

Please do all you can to:

• Ensure your child attends regularly and arrives on time
• Contact us at an early stage if there are any problems, so that we can seek a solution and support your child effectively
• Do not allow your child to stay off school for a trivial reason, the absence will not be authorised by school
• Arrange Doctors/Dental appointments out of school hours.  Your child should attend school on the day of any appointment to minimise the time lost in lessons

Absences

• Please let us know (by phone) on the first and fourth days of absence
• If we have not received a message, then we will try to contact you to make sure that your child is safe.
• Put a note in their bag marked for the school office on your child's return to school giving a reason for the absence.

Punctuality

• Punctuality is important.
• The school day starts at 8.45am prompt.
• You should aim to arrive at school for 8.35am when the gates open so that your child is lined up ready for their class teacher.
• If your child arrives after 8.45am, they will need to sign in at the School Office and will be given a late mark.
• The registers will close at 9.05am.  If your child arrives after this time, they will be given a late after registration mark, which is an unauthorised absence mark for the whole session.

Holidays

• Holidays should not be taken during term time and will be actively discouraged.  Holidays in term time are not a right.
• It is our policy that holidays/extended leave will not be authorised.
• Holidays must be applied for in advance with at least four weeks notice on an Application for Leave of Absence from School Form which is available from the School Office.  It may be necessary for the Headteacher to discuss the application with you.  A copy of the form is then forwarded to the Local Authority.
• If parents choose to take their child/children out of school for trips or holiday, Bradford Council may issue a penalty notice.  This is for £60 per parent per child if paid within 21 days.  (This is a total of £240 for a family with two adults and two children).  It will increase to £120 per adult per child if paid after 21 days, but within 28 days. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice could result in Bradford Children's Services starting legal proceedings against you.

The Education Social Work Service works with us to try to improve school attendance.  We work together on a 'whole school' approach, such as targeting a year group to improve their overall attendance.  Also, if we feel a pattern of poor attendance may be developing or that parents are not ensuring that their children come to school regularly, we will ask the ESWS for help.  The ESWS aims to work in partnership with families and carers to promote regular school attendance and to enable parents to fulfil their legal responsibilities.

Offering Support

If your child has a problem in school, please tell us at an early stage.  We will do what we can to help.  We want all children to feel safe and secure in school.

Good attendance will be rewarded

Children with a complete attendance record (100% attendance with no late marks) will be rewarded.

Monitoring

A change in attendance pattern often acts as an early warning to other problems.  Attendance is monitored regularly.  Parents/carers will be informed if their child is in or approaching the danger zone.