At our school, we believe that regular attendance is essential for every child’s success and wellbeing. Attending school every day, on time, enables children to access the full breadth of our curriculum, develop positive relationships, build confidence and benefit from the many academic, social and emotional opportunities that school provides. Strong attendance supports children to make progress, develop independence, strengthen friendships and feel a valued part of their school community.

Our approach to attendance is guided by the Department for Education’s statutory guidance, “Working Together to Improve School Attendance”. This guidance recognises that good attendance is a shared responsibility between schools, parents and wider partners, with the aim of ensuring that every child can access their right to an education. We understand that attendance is closely linked to children’s academic achievement, emotional wellbeing, confidence and long-term life opportunities.

Our role as a school is to promote excellent attendance, celebrate success and work proactively with families to identify and overcome barriers. We recognise that there can be many reasons why a child may experience difficulties attending school, and we are committed to working in partnership with families to understand individual circumstances and provide support where needed. Whilst parents and carers have the legal responsibility to ensure that their child attends school regularly, we believe the strongest outcomes are achieved when home and school work together, keeping children at the centre of every decision.

We aim to be an approachable and supportive school, where families feel able to seek help and discuss concerns at an early stage. Through positive relationships, regular communication and targeted support, we work alongside families to remove barriers and ensure that children can attend regularly, feel safe and enjoy coming to school.

We believe that celebrating attendance is an important part of creating a positive culture where children understand the value of coming to school every day. Each week, we celebrate attendance achievements through our Attendance Awards, recognising both excellence and improvement. We celebrate those children and classes who demonstrate consistently strong attendance, as well as those who have worked hard to overcome barriers and make positive improvements. We also recognise that good attendance is a partnership between school and home, and we take opportunities to thank parents and families for the important role they play in supporting their children to attend school regularly and make the most of every opportunity available to them.

Attendance is everyone’s responsibility. Whilst we have a dedicated attendance team, every member of staff plays an important role in promoting, monitoring and improving attendance across the school.

Our Attendance Team consists of:

• Attendance Champion: Mr Rondeau
• Attendance Officer: Miss Bayton
• Attendance Team: Miss Fullwood and Mrs Smith

Together, the team monitors attendance patterns, works with families, celebrates improvements and provides support where barriers to attendance are identified. Mr Rondeau and Miss Bayton can also be contacted directly through ClassDojo should parents or carers wish to discuss attendance concerns or seek advice.

If a child is absent from school, parents and carers should report this each day of absence by telephoning the school as soon as possible. This enables us to accurately record attendance, fulfil our safeguarding responsibilities and ensure that we know where children are when they are not in school.

Through our shared commitment to attendance, we aim to ensure that every child has the opportunity to Love, Grow and Succeed Together.