There is a clear correlation between attendance and attainment and with a progressive National Curriculum, children with poor attendance are significantly disadvantaged to make good progress.

 

Generally, attendance is good and we thank families for supporting regular attendance of pupils - as this offers pupils the best chance of making good progress. 

 

To ensure whole school attendance and punctuality remains at/above expected levels, parents should:

• Ensure their child attends every day the school is open.

• Notify the school as soon as possible when their child has to be unexpectedly absent (e.g. sickness)

• Only request a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and do so 2 weeks in advance (using the form which you can request from the school office). Holidays cannot be authorised.

• Book any medical appointments around the school day where possible, especially if your child is at risk of becoming persistently absent (moving towards 90% attendance).

 • Work with the school and local authority to help them understand their child's barriers to attendance.

 • Proactively engage with the support offered to prevent the need for more formal support If your child becomes persistently absent (attendance of 90% or below). 

 

Our school policy for attendance can be found below.

 

The impact upon children’s education through lost learning is huge. At a time when so much education has been disrupted it is vital that we make every school minute count. I urge you to ensure that your child is in school and on time every day to prevent anyone falling behind with their learning.

 

Persistent absence

Government departments track school attendance figures. It is considered that attendance of 90% or below is persistent absence which will be closely monitored by the school. Failing to improve on this 90% can lead to prosecution, which our schools want to help families avoid. 

The schools in the Fair Acres Federation have a whole school attendance target which is 96%.

 

There are things you can do to improve your child’s attendance and avoid falling into the persistent absence category:

• If your child is unwell and you are unsure whether to send them to school, contact the office to seek advice.
• Avoid taking any holidays during term times.
• Keep up to date with what % attendance your child has so that you know if they are at risk of persistent absence (office staff will provide this for you).
• Speak to school staff with any concerns.
• Talk to your child about the importance of them being in school and let them know how important you feel it is.

The table below provides an example of the impact of lost learning through pupil absence:

 

100% attendance	Zero days missed	Excellent - Learning is not disrupted
99% attendance	Two days of absence across the year	Very good
97% attendance	Five days of absence across the year	Good
95% attendance	Nine days of absence across the year: one week and four days of learning missed.	Satisfactory Pupil can catch up and still succeed
90% attendance	Nineteen days of absence across the year; three weeks and four days of learning missed	Poor attendance -we are concerned Learning is disrupted
85% attendance	Twenty-eight days of absence across the year: five weeks and three days of learning missed.	Very Poor – we are very concerned. Significant disruption to learning
80% attendance	Thirty-eight days of absence across the year: seven weeks and 3 days of learning missed.
75% attendance	Forty-six days of absence across the year: nine weeks and one day of learning missed.

 

Intervention to support good attendance

In future we will contact parents/carers when attendance starts to become a concern. 

 

% of Attendance Covered	Intervention
92% to 95.99%	We will write to you to let you know your child's attendance is dropping close to being a concern.
90% to 91.99%	Attendance is a significant concern – we will seek to discuss this concern with parents/carers.
Below 90%	Your child is now considered to be persistently absent from school: we need to be in communication to discuss a plan of action for improving attendance. We monitor attendance trends weekly and termly, if your child is in the persistent absenteeism category and has further time away from school we will call you to a meeting in school to discuss how we can work together to improve your child's access to their learning.

 

Arriving to school late

Punctuality is also highly important. Pupils who arrive late to school are not only losing learning but also disrupting the learning of others as they arrive late for lessons. Pupils do not like being late into school and we witness how upsetting it can be for them. If a child is late this could go towards an unauthorised mark and importantly late children can miss key inputs and feel unsettled, which will affect their learning. Should you ever have any concerns or need support do not hesitate to ask. We want to prevent this.

We want to help families get their child to school on time. Here are some things you can try:

• Have everything you/your child needs for school prepared the night before
• Ensure that your child goes to bed at a reasonable time for their age so they are not too tired to get up in the morning
• Ensure your child has a good night’s sleep by minimising their use of devices at bed time
• Have a consistent bedtime routine for your child
• Set an alarm to allow plenty of time for your morning routine in getting to school on time

Collection of pupils at the end of the school day

We appreciate that the majority of families arrive on time for collection. Thank you for this. It is the responsibility of parents to collect their child(ren) on time at the end of each school day – either at 3.30pm or at a prearranged time (in the case of clubs). Please be mindful that staff have to carry out their professional duties, assess pupil’s learning, plan for the next day and also attend training and meetings. We will keep a record of late collections.

 

Holidays/leave in term time

We are unable to authorise holidays in term time and we ask that you arrange holidays and visits to family during the school holidays. Headteachers can authorise leave for exceptional circumstances but this is rarely for holiday. Lincolnshire County Council have resumed issuing fines for unauthorised absences and there are strict rules on what can be authorised by the Headteacher. We are not allowed to authorise holidays during term time. Parents who take their children out of school for a holiday are now likely to incur a fixed penalty notice fine from the Local Authority.

 

100% attendance	Zero days missed	Perfection!
99% attendance	Two days of absence across the year	Excellent!
97% attendance	Five days of absence across the year	Good
95% attendance	Nine days of absence across the year: one week and four days of learning missed.	Satisfactory
90% attendance	Nineteen days of absence across the year; three weeks and four days of learning missed	Poor
85% attendance	Twenty-eight days of absence across the year: five weeks and three days of learning missed.	Very Poor
80% attendance	Thirty-eight days of absence across the year: seven weeks and 3 days of learning missed.	Unacceptable
75% attendance	Forty-six days of absence across the year: nine weeks and one day of learning missed.	Unacceptable

 

Illness 

Naturally, we do not expect a child to be in school if they are ill. If a child feels ill, they should stay off school until they are well enough to return. We will monitor the health of pupils in school and you will be contacted to collect them if they are unwell.

 

Guidance for infection control can be found on this link:

https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/sites/default/files/Guidance_on_infection_control_in%20schools_poster.pdf

 

Supporting the wellbeing of pupils

Finally, if your child ever has worries about being in school, please let us know so we can work with you. We have the capacity through pastoral sessions to support pupils with worries and we are always happy to offer advice. 

 

Yours faithfully

 

Kerri Grummell

Headteacher

	FAF Attendance and Absence Policy 2026	[pdf 264KB]
	Attendance - new rules from August 2024	[pdf 122KB]
	UKHSA-should-I-keep-my child off school guidance-A3-poster	[pdf 936KB]