Attendance Policy 2024 - 2027

This Attendance Policy has been approved and adopted by the Governing Body in July 2024 and will be reviewed in July 2027

2. Legislation and guidance

This policy is based on the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) statutory guidance on working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024) and school attendance parental responsibility measures. The guidance is based on the following pieces of legislation, which set out the legal powers and duties that govern school attendance:

• Part 6 of the Education Act 1996
• Part 3 of the Education Act 2002
• Part 7 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006
• The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (and 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2016 amendments)
• The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013

It also refers to:

• School census guidance
• Keeping Children Safe in Education
• Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance: guidance for schools

3. Roles and responsibilities

3.1 The governing board

The governing board is responsible for:

• Setting high expectations of all school leaders, staff, pupils and parents
• Making sure school leaders fulfil expectations and statutory duties, including:
  • Making sure the school records attendance accurately in the register, and shares the required information with the DfE and local authority
  • Making sure the school works effectively with local partners to help remove barriers to attendance, and keeps them informed regarding specific pupils, where appropriate
• Recognising and promoting the importance of school attendance across the school’s policies and ethos
• Making sure the school’s attendance management processes are delivered effectively, and that consistent support is provided for pupils who need it most by prioritising staff and resources
• Making sure the school has high aspirations for all pupils, but adapts processes and support to pupils’ individual needs
• Regularly reviewing and challenging attendance data and helping school leaders focus improvement efforts on individual pupils or cohorts who need it most
• Working with school leaders to set goals or areas of focus for attendance and providing support and challenge
• Monitoring attendance figures for the whole school and repeatedly evaluating the effectiveness of the school’s processes and improvement efforts to make sure they are meeting pupils’ needs
• Where the school is struggling with attendance, working with school leaders to develop a comprehensive action plan to improve attendance
• Making sure all staff receive adequate training on attendance as part of the regular continued professional development offer, so that staff understand:
  • The importance of good attendance
  • That absence is almost always a symptom of wider issues
  • The school’s legal requirements for keeping registers
  • The school’s strategies and procedures for tracking, following up on and improving attendance, including working with partners and keeping them informed regarding specific pupils, where appropriate
• Making sure dedicated training is provided to staff with a specific attendance function in their role, including in interpreting and analysing attendance data
• Holding the headteacher to account for the implementation of this policy

The named safeguarding governor will:

• Meet with the headteacher every half term
• Monitor attendance data for the whole school and emerging patterns for groups of children or individuals

3.2 The headteacher

The headteacher is responsible for:

• The implementation of this policy at the school
• Monitoring school-level absence data and reporting it to governors
• Supporting staff with monitoring the attendance of individual pupils
• Monitoring the impact of any implemented attendance strategies
• Issuing fixed-penalty notices, where necessary, or authorising the school business manager to be able to do so
• Working with the parents of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to develop specific support approaches for attendance for pupils with SEND, including where school transport is regularly being missed, and where pupils with SEND face in-school barriers
• Communicating with the local authority when a pupil with an education, health and care (EHC) plan has falling attendance, or where there are barriers to attendance that relate to the pupil’s needs
• Communicating the school’s high expectations for attendance and punctuality regularly to pupils and parents through all available channels

3.3 The designated senior leader responsible for attendance

The designated senior leader (also known as the ‘senior attendance champion’) is responsible for:

• Leading, championing and improving attendance across the school
• Setting a clear vision for improving and maintaining good attendance
• Evaluating and monitoring expectations and processes
• Having a strong grasp of absence data and oversight of absence data analysis
• Regularly monitoring and evaluating progress in attendance
• Establishing and maintaining effective systems for tackling absence, and making sure they are followed by all staff
• Liaising with pupils, parents/carers and external agencies, where needed
• Building close and productive relationships with parents to discuss and tackle attendance issues
• Creating intervention or reintegration plans in partnership with pupils and their parents/carers
• Delivering targeted intervention and support to pupils and families

The designated senior leader responsible for attendance is the headteacher and can be contacted via 01264 361 806/office@st-john-andover.hants.sch.uk

3.4. Class Staff

Class staff are responsible for recording attendance for both morning and afternoon sessions on a daily basis, using the correct codes (see Appendix 1), and submitting this information to the school office:

• Morning registration must be completed by 9.20am
• Afternoon registration must completed by 1.15pm.
• Contribute to and support the continued development of the warm, welcoming, exciting and safe environment for all children
• Welcome each child into the class by name and with a smile Promote and reward good attendance at all opportunities;
• Welcome children who have been absent with warmth – “it's great to see you – we have missed you and I am really pleased you are better/back” and never say “Where have you been? You have missed so much work….”
• Be aware of absences of each child or patterns in absence in their group and make sure the child is supported in catching up missed work
• Support children with attendance targets by completing daily sticker charts
• Communicate with colleagues where necessary if there are any issues resulting from the absence that other staff should know (concern about work missed, response of other children, possible responses of colleagues) but also where there are possible safeguarding concerns reporting to the school’s DSL
• Notify the KS lead and Headteacher if there is any suggestion of term time holiday

3.5. Office Staff

Office staff will:

• Take calls from parents/carers about absence on a day-to-day basis and record it on the school system
• Transfer calls from parents/carers to the headteacher, SENCO, Key Stage lead where appropriate, in order to provide them with more detailed support on attendance
• Notify the DSL if there are any contextual safeguarding issues which might explain erratic or poor attendance
• Contribute to and support the continued development of the warm, welcoming, exciting and safe environment for all children
• Greet the children by name and always with a smile and a greeting
• Make a special effort to provide a warm welcome to children returning with anxiety issues
• If necessary, walk the child to the lesson/assembly etc. if this is a cause of anxiety
• Reassure families that the school will monitor the child’s welfare carefully during the course of the day and communicate with the family if there are any issue

3.6. Parents

Where this policy refers to a parent, it refers to the adult the school and/or local authority decides is most appropriate to work with, including:

• All natural parents, whether they are married or not
• All those who have parental responsibility for a child or young person
• Those who have day-to-day responsibility for the child (i.e. lives with and looks after them)

Parents are expected to:

• Make sure their child attends every day on time
• Call the school to report their child’s absence before 9am on the day of the absence (or complete the online absence form) and each subsequent day of absence, and advise when their child is expected to return.
• Provide the school with more than 1 emergency contact number for their child
• Ensure that, where possible, appointments for their child are made outside of the school day. Where not possible, inform the school of the child’s absence in advance by emailing or phoning the school office.
• If their child’s absence rates are increasing and are causing concern, an attendance contract may be used to support parents to make improvements. Keep to any attendance contracts that they make with the school and/or local authority
• Seek support, where necessary, for maintaining good attendance, by contacting headteacher, SENCO, Key Stage lead who can be contacted via 01264 361 806/office@st-john-andover.hants.sch.uk

3.7. Pupils

Pupils are expected to:

• Attend school every day, on time

4. Recording Attendance

4.1 Attendance register

We will keep an electronic attendance register, and place all pupils onto this register.

We will take our attendance register at the start of the first session of each school day and once during the second session. It will mark, using the appropriate national attendance and absence codes from the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, whether every pupil is:

• Present
• Attending an approved off-site educational activity
• Absent
• Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances

Any amendment to the attendance register will include:

• The original entry
• The amended entry
• The reason for the amendment
• The date on which the amendment was made
• The name and position of the person who made the amendment

See Appendix 1 for the DfE attendance codes.

We will also record:

• Whether the absence is authorised or not
• The nature of the activity, where a pupil is attending an approved educational activity
• The nature of circumstances, where a pupil is unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances

We will keep every entry on the attendance register for 6 years after the date on which the entry was made.

The school day starts at 9.10am and ends at 3.35pm.

Pupils must arrive in school by 9.10am on each school day.

• The register for the first session will be taken at 9.10am and will be kept open until 9.20am.
• The register for the second session will be taken at 1pm and will be kept open until 1.15pm.

4.2 Unplanned absence

The pupil’s parent must notify the school of the reason for the absence on the first day of an unplanned absence by 9am, or as soon as practically possible, by completing the online absence form (on the school website) or calling the school office staff, who can be contacted via 01264 361 806.

• Absence form: https://www.sjbschool.co.uk/absences/

We will mark absence due to physical or mental illness as authorised, unless the school has a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness.

Where the absence is longer than 2 days, or there are doubts about the authenticity of the illness, the school will ask for medical evidence, such as a doctor’s note, prescription, appointment card or other appropriate form of evidence. We will not ask for medical evidence unnecessarily.

If the school is not satisfied about the authenticity of the illness, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and parents will be notified of this in advance.

4.3 Planned absence

Attending a medical or dental appointment will be counted as authorised as long as the pupil’s parent notifies the school in advance of the appointment.

• Parents can notify the school of a medical or dental appointment by emailing the school office: office@st-john-andover.hants.sch.uk
• Notify the school of:
  • the reason for the absence
  • The length of their absence
  • When the child is expected to return to school

However, we encourage parents to make medical and dental appointments out of school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, the pupil should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary.

The pupil’s parent must also apply for other types of term-time absence as far in advance as possible of the requested absence. Go to section 5 to find out which term-time absences the school can authorise.

4.4 Lateness and Punctuality

A pupil who arrives late:

• Before the register has closed (9.20am) will be marked as late, using the appropriate code
• After the register has closed (9.21am)  will be marked as absent, using the appropriate code

Incidents of lateness are reported to the headteacher daily.  Patterns of lateness are track half-termly and report to the governing body.

• Parents of pupils who have patterns of lateness will be contacted to discuss the importance of punctuality and how this might be achieved:
• Parents will be invited to a meeting to discuss the cause of lateness with the headteacher and support will be offered.
• If a child has 10 or more sessions of unauthorised absence due to lateness recorded in any 10 week period, a penalty notice will be issued in accordance with Hampshire’s Code of Conduct for issuing penalty notices for non-attendance

Parents must collect their child promptly at the end of the school day:

• Where late collection is persistent and/or significantly after 3.35pm, the school is obliged to take any uncollected pupil to a place of safety and share concerns, as necessary, with other agencies.
• If one is available, the school will place a child into the after school club and provide the parent/carer with the bill.
• If a child is not collected by 5.30pm, and a parent cannot be contacted, the school will contact Children’s Services as this is a safeguarding concern.

4.5 Following up unexplained absence

Where any pupil we expect to attend school does not attend, or stops attending, without reason, the school will:

• Call the pupil’s parent on the morning of the first day of unexplained absence to ascertain the reason. If the school cannot reach any of the pupil’s emergency contacts, the school may complete a home visit, contact Children’s Services or the police.
• Identify whether the absence is approved or not
• Identify the correct attendance code to use and input it as soon as the reason for absence is ascertained – this will be no later than 5 working days after the session(s) for which the pupil was absent
• Call the parent on each day that the absence continues without explanation, to make sure proper safeguarding action is taken where necessary. If absence continues, the school will consider involving an education welfare officer
• Where relevant, report the unexplained absence to the pupil’s youth offending team officer or social worker.
• Where appropriate, offer support to the pupil and/or their parents to improve attendance
• Identify whether the pupil needs support from wider partners, as quickly as possible, and make the necessary referrals
• Where support is not appropriate, not successful, or not engaged with: issue a notice to improve, penalty notice or other legal intervention (see section 5.2 below), as appropriate.

4.6 Reporting to parents

The school will regularly inform parents about their child’s attendance and absence levels:

• Half-termly attendance updates via the school app:

Red – persistent absence, 10% or more, serious concern

Amber – cause for concern, 4% - 9%, requires immediate improvement

Green – good attendance, 0% - 3%

• Parent Consultations held in October and March
• End-of-year report

5 Authorised and unauthorised absence

5.1 Approval for term-time absence

The headteacher will allow pupils to be absent from the school site for certain educational activities, or to attend other schools or settings.

The headteacher will only grant a leave of absence to a pupil during term time if the request meets the specific circumstances set out in the 2024 school attendance regulations. These circumstances are:

• Taking part in a regulated performance, or regulated employment abroad
• Attending an interview
• Study leave
• A temporary, time-limited part-time timetable
• Exceptional circumstances

A leave of absence is granted at the headteacher’s discretion, including the length of time the pupil is authorised to be absent for.

We define ‘exceptional circumstances’ as unexpected, unavoidable, and outside of your control, such as hospitalisation, a serious illness or a bereavement of a close relative. A leave of absence must still be requested in advance by a parent who the pupil normally lives with.

Leave of absence will not be granted for a pupil to take part in protest activity during school hours.

As a leave of absence will only be granted in exceptional circumstances, it is unlikely a leave of absence will be granted for the purposes of a family holiday or celebration (including a wedding).

The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant background context behind the request.

Any request should be submitted as soon as it is anticipated and, where possible, at least 3 weeks before the absence, and in accordance with any leave of absence request form, accessible via  the school website or school office. The headteacher may require evidence to support any request for leave of absence.

Other valid reasons for authorised absence include (but are not limited to):

• Illness (including mental-health illness) and medical/dental appointments (see sections 4.2 and 4.3 for more detail)
• Religious observance – where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s parent(s) belong(s). If necessary, the school will seek advice from the parent’s religious body to confirm whether the day is set apart
• Parent(s) travelling for occupational purposes – this covers Roma, English and Welsh gypsies, Irish and Scottish travellers, showmen (fairground people) and circus people, bargees (occupational boat dwellers) and new travellers. Absence may be authorised only when a traveller family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school, but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision
• If the pupil is currently suspended or excluded from school (and no alternative provision has been made)

Other reasons the school may allow a pupil to be absent from the school site, which are not classified as absences, include (but are not limited to):

• Attending an offsite approved educational activity, sporting activity or visit or trip arranged by the school
• Attending another school at which the pupil is also registered (dual registration)
• Attending provision arranged by the local authority
• If there is any other unavoidable cause for the pupil not to attend school, such as disruption to travel caused by an emergency, a lack of access arrangements, or because the school premises are closed

5.2 Sanctions

Our school will make use of the full range of potential sanctions – including, but not limited to, those listed below – to tackle poor attendance. Decisions will be made on an individual, case-by-case basis.

Penalty notices

The headteacher (or someone authorised by them), local authority or the police can fine parents for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age, by issuing a penalty notice.

If the school issues a penalty notice, it will check with the local authority before doing so, and send it a copy of any penalty notice issued.

Before issuing a penalty notice, the school will consider the individual case, including:

• Whether the national threshold for considering a penalty notice has been met (10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks)
• Whether a penalty notice is the best available tool to improve attendance for that pupil
• Whether further support, a notice to improve or another legal intervention would be a more appropriate solution
• Whether any obligations that the school has under the Equality Act 2010 make issuing a penalty notice inappropriate

A penalty notice may also be issued where parents allow their child to be present in a public place during school hours without reasonable justification, during the first 5 days of a suspension or exclusion (where the school has notified the parents that the pupil must not be present in a public place on that day).

Each parent who is liable for the pupil’s offence(s) can be issued with a penalty notice, but this will usually only be the parent/parents who allowed the absence.

The payment must be made directly to the local authority, regardless of who issues the notice. If the payment has not been made after 28 days, the local authority can decide whether to prosecute or withdraw the notice.

• If issued with a first penalty notice, the parent must pay £80 within 21 days, or £160 within 28 days.
• If a second penalty notice is issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil, the parent must pay £160 if paid within 28 days.
• A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of the issue of the first penalty notice. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time within those 3 years, alternative action will be taken instead.

Notices to improve

If the national threshold has been met and support is appropriate, but parents do not engage with offers of support, the school may offer a notice to improve to give parents a final chance to engage with support.

Notices to improve will be issued in line with processes set out in the local code of conduct for the local authority area in which the pupil attends school.

They will include:

• Details of the pupil’s attendance record and of the offences
• The benefits of regular attendance and the duty of parents under section 7 of the Education Act 1996
• Details of the support provided so far 
• Opportunities for further support, or to access previously provided support that was not engaged with
• A clear warning that a penalty notice may be issued if attendance doesn’t improve within the improvement period, along with details of what sufficient improvement looks like, which will be decided on a case-by-case basis
• A clear timeframe of between 3 and 6 weeks for the improvement period
• The grounds on which a penalty notice may be issued before the end of the improvement period

6. Strategies for promoting attendance

The foundation for good attendance is a strong partnership between the school, parents and the child.

To help us all to focus on this we will:

• Provide information on all matters related to attendance in our regular newsletter and on our website;
• Report to you how your child is performing in school, what their attendance and punctuality rate is and how this relates to their attainment;
• Set targets for the school and display these in the newsletter;
• Deliver a stimulating and engaging curriculum that encourages children’s enjoyment of school;
• Run events when parents, pupils and staff can work together on raising attendance levels across the school

7. Supporting pupils who are absent or returning to school

7.1 Pupils absent due to complex barriers to attendance

• Headteacher, parents, class teacher and SENCO will meet to identify the barriers to good school attendance. If appropriate, the child’s views will also be gathered.
• An attendance contract may be put in place to support progress towards improved attendance.
• School-based interventions may be offered: ELSA, Thrive, a consultation with Primary Behaviour Support, soft starts, protected play, a time-limited part-time timetable so the child can build success, Emotionally-based School Avoidance resources, animal-assisted education sessions
• External Interventions may be offered: referrals to Primary Behaviour Support, Educational Psychologist, CAMHS, Early Help/Family Support Services
• A home-school book will be established to maintain clear communication between the parents and the class staff
• Guardian Angel: a child will be appointed as their guardian angel.  The guardian angel will support the child through the day with academic and social interactions.

7.2 Pupils absent due to mental or physical ill health or SEND

• Headteacher, parents, class teacher and SENCO will meet to identify the barriers to good school attendance. If appropriate, the child’s views will also be gathered.
• If appropriate, the attendance policy will be implemented alongside the Children with Health Needs who cannot attend School and Children with Medical Conditions policies.
• Identify a key adult to work with the child and the family using Hampshire’s Emotionally-based School Avoidance resources to explore the positive and negative influences on absenteeism and build resilience.
• School-based interventions may be offered: ELSA, Thrive, a consultation with Primary Behaviour Support, soft starts, protected play, animal-assisted education sessions, a time-limited part-time timetable so the child can build success
• External Interventions may be offered: referrals to Primary Behaviour Support, Educational Psychologist, CAMHS, Early Help/Family Support Services
• A home-school book will be established to maintain clear communication between the parents and the class staff
• Parents will be signposted to the parent support circle
• Guardian Angel: a child will be appointed as their guardian angel.  The guardian angel will support the child through the day with academic and social interactions.

Where a pupil has an education health and care (EHC) plan and their attendance falls, or the school becomes aware of barriers to attendance that related to the pupil’s needs, the school will inform the local authority.

7.3 Pupils returning to school after a lengthy or unavoidable period of absence

As soon as parents have informed the school of the expected date of return:

• Class teacher will organise a welcome pack back for the child to receive before they return.  It may include: messages from the class, timetable for their first day back, a reading book
• Headteacher will meet with the parents (and child if appropriate) in advance of the first day to discuss expectations, reasonable adjustments and individual health care/My Support Plans that may be in place
• Soft start: parents/child will be given the option to arrive through the school office, where the child will be welcomed by an adult known to them.
• Guardian Angel: a child will be appointed as their guardian angel.  The guardian angel will support the child through the day with academic and social interactions.
• A home-school book will be established to maintain clear communication between the parents and the class staff
• ELSA or Thrive sessions will be available to support the child’s return.

8. Attendance monitoring

8.1 Monitoring attendance

The school will monitor attendance and absence data (including punctuality) half-termly, termly and yearly across the school and at an individual pupil, year group and cohort level.

Specific pupil information will be shared with the DfE on request.

The school has granted the DfE access to its management information system so the data can be accessed regularly and securely.

Data will be collected each term and published at national and local authority level through the DfE's school absence national statistics releases. The underlying school-level absence data is published alongside the national statistics.

The school will benchmark its attendance data at whole school, year group and cohort level against local, regional, and national levels to identify areas of focus for improvement, and share this with the governing board.

8.2 Analysing attendance

The school will:

• Analyse attendance and absence data regularly to identify pupils, groups or cohorts that need additional support with their attendance, and
• Identify pupils whose absences may be a cause for concern, especially those who demonstrate patterns of persistent or severe absence
• Conduct thorough analysis of half-termly, termly, and full-year data to identify patterns and trends
• Look at historic and emerging patterns of attendance and absence, and then develop strategies to address these patterns 

8.3 Using data to improve attendance

The school will:

• Develop targeted actions to address patterns of absence (of all severities) of individual pupils, groups or cohorts that it has identified via data analysis
• Provide targeted support to the pupils it has identified whose absences may be a cause for concern, especially those who demonstrate patterns of persistent or severed absence, and their families (see section 8.4 below)
• Provide regular attendance reports to class teachers to facilitate discussions with pupils and families, and to the governing board and school leaders (including special educational needs co-ordinators, designated safeguarding leads and pupil premium leads)
• Use data to monitor and evaluate the impact of any interventions put in place in order to modify them and inform future strategies
• Share information and work collaboratively with other schools in the area, local authorities and other partners where a pupil’s absence is at risk of becoming persistent or severe, including keeping them informed regarding specific pupils, where appropriate

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8.4 Reducing persistent and severe absence

Persistent absence is where a pupil misses 10% or more of school, and severe absence is where a pupil misses 50% or more of school. Reducing persistent and severe absence is central to the school’s strategy for improving attendance.

The school will:

• Use attendance data to find patterns and trends of persistent and severe absence
• Consider potential safeguarding issues and, where suspected or present, address them in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education
• Hold regular meetings with the parents of pupils who the school (and/or local authority) considers to be vulnerable or at risk of persistent or severe absence, or who are persistently or severely absent, to:
  • Discuss attendance and engagement at school
  • Listen, and understand barriers to attendance
  • Explain the help that is available
  • Explain the potential consequences of, and sanctions for, persistent and severe absence
  • Review any existing actions or interventions
• Provide access to wider support services to remove the barriers to attendance, in conjunction with the local authority, where relevant
• Consider alternative support that could be put in place to remove any barriers to attendance and re-engage these pupils. In doing so, the school will sensitively consider some of the reasons for absence
• Implement sanctions, where necessary (see section 5.2, above)