The school day runs from 8:45am to 3:15pm totalling a time of 32.5 hours per week.

Breakfast Club runs from 7:45am - 8:45am and After School Club from 3:15pm - 5:45pm.

What should I do if my child can't come into school?

If your child is unable to attend school through illness, you should inform us by telephone on the first day of absence. Phone lines are manned from 7.30am (01296 484434) and you should aim to call us before 9.00am which is when morning registers close. Alternatively, you can email us at office@ashmeadschool.org.uk if you prefer. If you do not supply us with this information, we have a duty of care to contact you to establish a child’s whereabouts (this is an important safeguarding measure).

An overview of Attendance at Ashmead School

Here is a clear outline of our attendance procedures at Ashmead School. As parents, you play a vital role in your child’s academic success. The first step to academic achievement is establishing excellent school attendance habits. The Governors have made it clear that they will support the Headteachers and the County Attendance Team in promoting high levels of attendance and act swiftly where there are unsatisfactory reasons for absence. Our expected attendance is 95% across the year (this means no more than 9.5 days of absence).

Unbroken attendance at school is important for learning; however, we do understand that there will be times when absence is unavoidable.

Types of Absence

Each absence is classed as authorised or unauthorised. Absences are coded as authorised where reasons are considered valid, and unauthorised where there is no explanation, or unacceptable reasons are given.

Reasons for Authorised Absence

Illness and First Day Call

If your child is unable to attend school through illness, you should inform us by telephone on the first day of absence. Phone lines are manned from 7.30am and you should aim to call us before 9.00am which is when morning registers close. Alternatively, you can email us at office@ashmeadschool.org.uk if you prefer. If you do not supply us with this information, we have a duty of care to contact you to establish a child’s whereabouts (this is an important safeguarding measure). If we have been unable to determine a reason for your child’s non-attendance it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. Three unauthorised absences could trigger involvement from the County Attendance Team.

Medical/Dental Appointments

It is generally better if these can be arranged outside school hours, but we know this is not always possible. Where children need to attend such appointments during the school day, it is important that they are brought to school before their appointment (where possible), and returned promptly afterwards, to ensure minimal lesson time is missed. Medical and dental appointments count as authorised absences.

Valid illnesses, medical and dental appointments are recorded as authorised absences. However, if we have concerns over excessive absence patterns through illness or appointments, we will need to discuss this with you in order to gain a better understanding of any underlying problems and to offer our support.

Emergency Occasions

There may be some occasions e.g. bereavement where it may be inappropriate for children to attend school; we will be sympathetic to such needs where possible.

Reasons for Unauthorised Absence

Unacceptable Reasons

The following reasons are not acceptable reasons:

1. Shopping visits
2. Birthday ‘day off’
3. Care for family members
4. Days out to theme parks etc
5. Parents’ work commitments
6. Holidays taken in term time
7. Parental illness
8. Tiredness

Lateness

Please ensure your child arrives at school so that they are present for registration; this is completed between 8.45-9.00am each day. Children should enter their classroom from 8.40am, ready for learning to start. Lateness can be embarrassing for children if they have to walk in late to a session, and be detrimental to their learning when key learning inputs are missed. Worryingly, ‘it all adds up’ over time; for instance, missing just 15 minutes each day is the equivalent to missing 10 days learning over a school year.

Holidays in term time

Following guidance from the County Attendance team, we do not authorise any holidays taken during term time. If such occasion arises whereby you need to take your child out of school during term time, we ask that you provide this information in writing, stating the reason for absence, the dates of absence and your child's return date to school. CME (The Child Missing in Education team) may be contacted if your child does not return to school on the date you provided.

Where unauthorised leave of absence is taken, fixed penalty fines could be imposed by County. We have a duty of care, shared with the Local Authority, to challenge poor attendance. If attendance levels are low, and where there are invalid reasons for a pupil’s frequent absence (e.g. by taking children out of school on unauthorised holidays), then parents render themselves liable to a fine of £60 per person per parent. This would be doubled if the fine is unpaid within 21 days and could ultimately lead to a criminal conviction. Of course, no one wants this to happen but we do need to be very clear about the issue.

How do we monitor attendance at Ashmead?

We strive for 95% attendance. We will monitor every pupil’s attendance on a weekly basis, identifying any pupils whose attendance has fallen below 90%. If we feel that intervention is required, we will act swiftly (this could be in the format of an email, face to face conversation, meeting, phone call or letter). We then monitor these pupils’ attendance over a period of five weeks where we expect to see immediate improvements.

We understand the extent in which the pandemic has impacted on attendance in schools. We will continue to record confirmed cases of COVID-19 using a separate code and by classifying them as an authorised absence.

We hope that these notes will help you to have a clear understanding about the school’s high expectations with attendance and we do hope you will support us in our approach to maintaining and improving our attendance record.

Remember – it all adds up!

Did you know?

• If a child has 90% attendance, it means they are absent from lessons for the equivalent of half a day every week
• If their attendance stays at 90% during the academic year, they will miss a total of 4 weeks of school, which equates to nearly half a term
• If their attendance stays at 90% from Year 1 to Year 6, they will have missed 27 weeks which is over half a school year
• A child who is 10 minutes late every day will miss 30 hours of lessons during a year
• Half of pupils who miss between 2-4 days in September will go on to miss nearly a month of school that year
• Reception and Year 1 pupils who are often absent, have an 81% chance of reading below the expected level by the time they reach Year 2
• By the end of Key Stage Two, pupils with a high level of absence have an increased chance of dropping out of secondary school
• Only 33% of pupils with attendance of less than 50% go on to achieve 5+ GCSE's whereas over 80% of pupils with 100% attendance achieve 5+ GCSE's

These are all hard hitting facts! Please do your bit in supporting us with our mission to improve both attendance and punctuality.