Attendance

The following information is intended to provide Parents/Carers with an understanding of the importance of regular attendance and punctuality, and what we do as a school to continually improve attendance.

At Banks Lane Junior School we believe that pupils need to attend school every day in order for them to take advantage of educational opportunities and achieve their full potential. Poor attendance has a detrimental effect on a pupil’s education and performance. Evidence suggests that children who attend school every day make better progress and achieve greater success. Children must be present for morning and afternoon registration; both of these sessions count towards your child’s overall attendance. This is represented as a percentage; the number of sessions your child has actually attended out of the number of possible sessions throughout the academic year.

At Banks Lane Junior School we understand that in certain circumstances absence from school is unavoidable, these include illness, medical appointments, and religious celebrations. In order for these absences to be authorised school must be informed of the reason either by phone, in person or in writing. We ask that in the case of a medical appointment, an appointment card/letter must be seen by a member of staff in the school office. Please note that an authorised absence is still recorded as an absence and will have an effect on your child’s overall attendance. We therefore ask that wherever possible medical appointments are made outside of school hours.

An absence will be recorded as unauthorised when a child arrives to school after the registers have closed at 9.15am, when a child is absent from school and no reason has been given, or for holidays taken during term time.

At Banks Lane Junior school Parents/Carers are responsible for ensuring that their children:

Attend school every day;
Arrive at school on time;
Are absent only when the reason is genuine;
They inform the school office of the reason for absence before 8.30am on the first day of absence;
They keep school informed if absence is for an extended period of time;
They inform the school of any medical/dental appointments and provide a copy of an appointment card to the school office.

Percentages Made Easy

100%	Zero days absence a year.
Above 97%	Less than 6 days absence a year.
95%	Less than 10 days absence a year. Although this sounds good this is equivalent to 1 day off a month!
90%	20 days absence a year, this is equivalent to approximately 1 month of school.
85%	30 days absence a year, this is equivalent to 6 weeks of school.
80%	This is the equivalent to missing 1 day of school every week.

Attendance Rewards

At Banks Lane Junior School we continually aim to improve attendance. Throughout the year we have special incentives given for excellent attendance:

Each week during assembly, the class with the highest attendance will be presented with the Fantastic Attendance Cup (FA Cup) to display in the classroom and a certificate.
At the end of the year the class with the most certificates will be awarded with a special day out. Previously younger winners have been to Vernon Park, followed by lunch and an afternoon at Run of the Mill, and older children enjoyed a day at Grand Central Swimming Pool with lunch at McDonalds.
Children who have 100% attendance at the end of each half term receive a chocolate treat and a certificate. Children with 98% and above will receive a smaller treat and a certificate.
During our Leavers Assembly any child who achieves 100% attendance for the school year will receive a £5 gift voucher and a certificate; Year 6 Leavers who have maintained 100% attendance since Year 3 will receive a £50 gift voucher.
All our attendance figures including the school targets are reported on the ‘Roar’, our weekly newsletter.

Poor Attendance

At Banks Lane Junior School we report and follow up any absences. Our policy is to text on the first day of absence if parents have not informed us of a child’s absence; any unanswered texts will be followed by a phone call. We may also follow up unanswered calls with a home visit from a senior member of staff. These visits will be kept on record for the Educational Welfare Officer’s (EWO) inspection.

Under the new arrangement schools have a duty to report to the Education Welfare Team any pupils who do not attend school for a continuous period of 10 days, (or less if there are additional concerns), this includes unauthorised term time holidays. (Regulation 12 (1) (B) Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006). In addition, to help schools comply with the regulations, schools will be asked to provide the Education Welfare Team a list of children with attendance below 85% on a termly basis. Both School and the Education Welfare Team have the authority to refer Parents/Carers to the courts. This could result in a significant fine or in extreme cases imprisonment.

Attendance Policy 2019

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