Attendance and Absence Procedures
Attendance and Absence Procedures
Our Mission
At New Road Primary we believe good attendance is vital for a child to achieve their full potential. We aim to promote good attendance by providing a safe and motivating environment for all children. As a team, we will together break down any barriers a child or family may have to accessing their education. Every child matters, every day matters.
Parental home agreement
Parents/ carers AND school both have a legal duty for attendance.
It is a legal requirement for each and every child to access regular education.
Attendance Team
Head Teacher- Mrs Cooper
Attendance and Admissions Officer - Mrs Ridley
Early Help Support Worker – Mrs Pudney
Absence
If your child is going to be absent from school - you must contact the school office before 9am to provide a reason for their absence.
Ways of reporting your child’s absence:
Telephone: 01634 843084
E-mail: office@newroad.medway.sch.uk
Studybugs: https://studybugs.com/about/parents
Punctuality
If your child arrives to school after registration closes your child will receive an unauthorised late mark - this effects your child’s attendance.
You must accompany your child to sign in at the office when arriving late.
Medical evidence
If your child is absent from school and is at risk of becoming persistently absent (at risk of falling below 90%) you will be required to provide medical evidence for your child's absences. This way, we can make sure absences are authorised.
Persistently Absent (PA) / risk of PA
We want to avoid children becoming ‘persistently absent’ (below 90%).
Interventions will be put in place when your child's attendance becomes ‘at risk’ of becoming PA. This may include supportive parent meetings. Being persistently absent may make you liable for fines or school attendance referrals.
Holidays
Holidays are in no circumstances authorised by school.
Unauthorised absence due to holidays will result in a fine being issued from Medway Council.
Education penalty notices (EPN
EPN’s are issued for unauthorised absences, this includes term time holidays.
- £80 to be paid within 21 days, or
- £160 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days
EPN’s have now been capped nationally at TWO fines within any 3-year period. From the autumn of 2024, only two fines can be issued to the same parent for the same child within a three-year rolling period. Any second notice will automatically be charged at £160. After this, other action like a parenting order or prosecution has to be considered - this could mean a fine of up to £2500!
National fine thresholds
From September 2024, schools will have to consider a fine if a pupil misses 10 sessions (half days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks.
The threshold can be met with “any combination of unauthorised absence”. For example, four sessions in term time plus six instances of arriving late.
The period of 10 weeks can also span “different terms or school years”.
But councils “retain the discretion to issue one before the threshold is met”. This could include where parents “are deliberately avoiding the national threshold by taking several term time holidays below threshold, or for repeated absence for birthdays or other family events”.
What is an unauthorised absence?
Unauthorised absence is when a child is kept off school unnecessarily or without good reason. Term time holidays is not a justified reason to take your child out of school – this will be unauthorised.
What happens if I keep my child off, and don’t contact school?
School will call home to try and obtain a reason for absence - if no reason is provided, school may carry out a visit to your home - this is to check on the welfare of you and your child.
Every minute counts
‘90% attendance’ or ‘only 5 minutes late’ may sound like small issues, but the amount of learning missed is huge!
Make each day count and believe in the power of education.
100% attendance | 0 days missed | No learning missed! |
97% attendance | 5 days missed | A weeks learning missed |
94% attendance | 12 days missed | 2 weeks and 2 days learning missed |
90% attendance | 19 days missed | 3 weeks and 4 days learning missed |
85 % attendance | 30 days missed | 6 weeks of learning missed |
80% attendance | 40 days missed | 8 weeks of learning missed |
Always on time! | No hours missed! | No learning missed! |
5 minutes late each day | 15 hours missed | 3 days learning missed |
10 minutes late every day | 32 hours missed | 6.5 days learning missed |
20 minutes late each day | 65 hours missed | 13 days learning missed |
30 minutes late each day | 95 hours missed | 19 days learning missed |
If you need support with your child’s attendance, please reach out to any one of our Attendance Team or any member of staff you feel comfortable talking to.