Attendance

Roger Ascham Primary is committed to achieving excellent levels of attendance for individual children and for the school as a whole. Underpinning this commitment is the belief that if children attend school regularly and punctually they will be best able to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. To achieve this, parents/carers and all school staff must aim to work in partnership.

Good attendance is an essential part of your child’s education and social development. Children who have good attendance make much better progress than those who do not.

Every child must come to school everyday unless they are too ill to attend.

Parents requiring children to be released during school time (e.g. visits to clinics etc.) should make the request in advance. For any known absence the appropriate form, obtained from the school office, must be completed well in advance of the proposed absence and returned to the office.

If a child is off school due to illness, please inform the school office at the earliest possible opportunity, preferable on the morning of the initial absence.

Punctuality

Punctuality is also vital because it allows children to feel secure and settled. We have noticed how hard some children find it to settle and become involved in the session if they regularly arrive late.

We expect all children to be brought to and collected from school by an adult. Please inform the staff if anyone different will be collecting your child.

Statistics

Attendance over one school year

• 98% attendance = fewer than 4 days absent from school
• 95% attendance = fewer than 10 days absent from school
• 90% attendance = 4 weeks absent from school - a whole month missed  
• 85% attendance = 5 ½ weeks absent from school
• 80% attendance = 7 ½ weeks absent from school - a whole day every single week

Attendance over 7 years at Primary School

• 90% attendance = over two terms of school missed!
• 80% attendance = nearly one and a half years of school missed!

Good Attendance is more than 97%

Each year there are 190 school days which leaves 175 days for holidays, shopping, birthday treats and non urgent medical and dental appointments. Therefore, the school is very unlikely to authorise absence for these reasons.

Our minimum expectation for attendance is 95%. If your son or daughter attends for at least 95% of one school year they will have had fewer than 10 days absent.