Attendance
Flying High Attendance at St Helen's
We pride ourselves on all our children aiming to be Flying High in all areas of school life. One other area that we want to be Flying High in, is attendance.
Data: 2023-24
Last year our whole school attendance was a fantastic 95.2% which was an improvement on the previous year. As with all areas of school life, including pupil achievement, we want to set ambitious targets for the year ahead and are again setting the high target of 97%. We will also be continuing to monitor the number of ‘broken weeks’ that children are having and are looking to improve this for the forthcoming academic year. The number of children classed as persistently absent (less than 90%) was 22 children which was 10.5% of school population. Each of these families have had some sort of conversation or additional work with the EWO, in order to improve the attendance. Persistent absence is a key area for us to improve next year. Research shows that great attendance makes a real impact on learning and so I’d like to thank-you in advance for your support with this.
The importance of consistently high attendance:
'This is essential for pupils to get the most out of their school experience, including
their attainment, wellbeing, and wider life chances. The pupils with the highest attainment at the end of key stage 2 and key stage 4 have higher rates of attendance over the key stage compared to those with the lowest attainment. At KS2, pupils not meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths had an overall absence rate of 4.7%, compared to 3.5% among those meeting the expected standard. Moreover, the overall absence rate of pupils not meeting the expected standard was higher than among those meeting the higher standard (4.7% compared to 2.7%). At KS4, pupils not achieving grade 9 to 4 in English and maths had an overall absence rate of 8.8%, compared to 5.2% 9 among those achieving grade 42. The overall absence rate of pupils not achieving grade 9 to 4 was over twice as high as those achieving grade 9 to 5 (8.8% compared to 3.7%).'
Taken from statutory attendance guidance: Working Together to improve school attendance.
Please see below links to the new DFE information around attendance. Please note this became statutory on 19th August 2024.
Working Together to improve school attendance. DFE
Summary table of responsibilities for school attendance
Attendance Policy Federation 2024-25
We have always talked about the importance of attendance and we really value your support in this. Please do not take offence if we have to have any informal conversations about your child’s attendance or even if we have to go down a more formal route. Ensuring that your children are in school every day, enables them to be Flying High at St Helen’s and helps contribute to their academic and more importantly their social and personal development. Our school attendance policy can be found below and a reminder that we cannot authorise any holiday requests during term time.
The school's senior attendance champion is Mr Chappell. It is his responsibility alongside other members of the SLT (Senior Leadership Team) to ensure attendance is as high as possible and to ensure that the right support is put in place when needed. As in previous years, he will be the first line in supporting you with any attendance issues, and identify the right support that is needed. As in previous years alongside the school office and EWO (Educational Welfare Officer) he monitors attendance data rigorously to ensure that as a school we are proactive in improving attendance.
Some of the systems detailed in the DFE document are outlined below. In our draft attendance policy you will see how this process is used in school to support all families with attendance.
How do we support you with your child's attendance?
Effective school attendance management - Support systems.
Providing Support first before legal intervention
Please note inline with the new guidance we are currently updating our new attendance policy.
The importance of attendance can be seen in the attendance diamond below:
A reminder that we cannot authorise any term time holiday requests. For those people who need to request some absence for leave time, please find the attachment below.
ABSENCE REQUEST FOR LEAVE DURING TERM TIME
Please read the following important guidance before making a request:
The current law does not give any entitlement to parents/carers to take their children on holiday during term time. Any applications for leave must be in exceptional circumstances and the head teacher must be satisfied that the
circumstances warrant the granting of leave. Absence from the school without the headteacher’s permission will be classed as unauthorised absence and may lead
to the issuing of a Penalty Notice (fine). A Penalty Notice will be issued to a parent where more than 10 sessions ofabsence are recorded in 7 school weeks (ie. 70 sessions). There are 2 sessions per day, one in the morning and one in
the afternoon.
For more information about attendance, please see the link below from South Glos Local authority.