Attendance

Every Pupil, Every Day!

We take attendance very seriously in Orgill Primary School.

The Government Has Announced Changes to the Definition of Persistent Absence

 

What is ‘persistent absence’?

The Government sets a level of absence for each child of school age that can significantly affect your child’s success in the future.  This is called persistent absence.  Should your child’s absence fall to this level, the Local Authority can take legal action if deemed appropriate. 

Previously this level was set at 15% or more, meaning a pupil absent for 56 sessions (28 days) or more would be classified as persistently absent. This is a great deal of schooling to miss and therefore they have decided to reduce the persistent absence threshold from 15% to 10% from September 2015. This means that any pupil who has been absent for 38 sessions (19 days) or more in the school year, will now be classed as a persistent absentee.

 

What this change in the persistent absence threshold means:

From September 2015 any pupil whose attendance falls below 90% at any point in the school year will be at risk of being a persistent absentee. Missing 2.5 days or more in a half term could mean your child’s attendance falling below this level.  Attendance is monitored on a daily basis and should your child’s attendance cause concern you may be invited in to school to discuss any problems, or in serious cases, the Local Authorities Inclusion Officer, Julie Topping, will be informed.  This means that Legal Action can be considered.

 

Our motto at Orgill is “Every Pupil, Every Day”.  A child being absent from school can put them at a disadvantage before they even enter the classroom.

You can help improve your child’s attendance in the following ways:-

• Ensure that they arrive to school on time and not after the registers have closed.

• Arrange medical appointments, when possible, for during the school holidays. We do understand that some medical appointments do have to be taken in the school day. If this is the case, we ask that you try to arrange them for the start or end of the school day, so that they can attend school for one of the sessions and minimise any disruption to their learning.

• Make sure that before any holidays are booked, you have checked the school’s website for our term dates. HOLIDAYS IN TERM TIME WILL NOT BE AUTHORISED UNLESS THERE ARE EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES.  Your working commitments are not classed as exceptional circumstances.

• A healthy lifestyle, to  ensure that absences due to illness are kept to a minimum, this includes good hygiene routines.

Should you have any concerns or if there are going to be genuine reasons for your child being absent from school, please contact the school as soon as possible, so that we can offer any support that may be needed.