Attendance and Punctuality
At Park Primary School we encourage good attendance as it is key to your child making educational progress and developing positive social skills. We consider good attendance to be over 98% and satisfactory attendance to be over 95%.
Did you know?
If your child misses ten days of school in one year they will not reach 95% attendance.
Absence due to Illness
Occasionally pupils are too unwell to attend school. When deciding whether or not your child is too ill to attend school, ask yourself:
Is your child well enough to carry out the activities of the school day? If not, keep your child at home and consult your GP as appropriate.
Does your child have a contagious condition that could be passed on to other children or school staff? If so, keep your child at home. If you are unsure, send your child to school and let a member of staff know your concerns. We will contact you if we think they are not well enough to stay in school.
Please remember to contact school if your child is unable to attend.
The school phone number is: 0151 638 6008
Absence due to Medical Appointments
If your child has a medical appointment and will either arrive late or will need to be collected early from school, please inform school and bring in the appointment card or letter, to be copied.
Absence due to Family Holidays or Events
All requests for leave of absence from school, must be made in writing addressed to the headteacher, Mr Mellin. Please ask at the school office for a form or find a link below. Absence will be authorised only in exceptional circumstances. You will receive a written reply explaining whether the absence from school has been authorised.
Exceptional Circumstances
The Department for Education has not issued any guidance to Head Teachers on what constitutes “exceptional circumstances” in relation to requests from parents for family holidays taken in term time. Each case should be viewed on its own merits.
Wirral Headteachers have indicated they may view the following circumstances as exceptional:
where parents’ conditions of employment preclude them from taking holidays during school holiday time or prescribe holidays must be taken in school time, for example, serving members of the armed forces or where there is a factory shut-down
cases involving a terminally ill child. Head Teachers may also wish to consider carefully issues in relation to family members with a terminal illness
family members with a disability although this may not always be considered exceptional taking in to account the NAHT guidance below
holidays funded by charities
absences in relation to recognised religious festivals.
Advice in relation to families from ethnic minorities can be provided by Minority Ethnic Achievement Service [MEAS]. Education Social Welfare Service can also be contacted for further discussion.
Guidance from NAHT suggested that the principles for defining exceptional are rare, significant, unavoidable and short with unavoidable meaning an event that could not reasonably be scheduled at another time.
Punctuality at the Beginning of the Day
Gates open at 8.45am and close at 8.55am. Pupils should be in school every day between 8.45am and 8.55am. If pupils arrive after 8.55am they need to be signed in electronically at the school office.
Punctuality at the End of the Day
Pupils should be collected at:-
11.45am Morning Foundation 1 (Nursery)
3.15pm Foundation 2 and Key Stage One (Years 1 and 2)
3.20pm Key Stage Two (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6)
3.30pm Afternoon Foundation 1 (Nursery)
If you are going to be late or if someone else is collecting your child, please inform school. Parents/carers of pupils who are regularly collected late will be asked to register at the after school club, Park Rangers.
Rewards
School rewards individual pupils and classes for good attendance and punctuality throughout the year. These rewards include stickers, certificates, trophies, raffle prizes, '£5 for Five' rewards and invitations to special events. Please see the Attendance Awards section of our website.
Fixed Penalty Notices
A Fixed Penalty Notice can be issued by the Local Authority for the following reasons:
At least 10 sessions missed (am or pm) in the current term due to unauthorised absence. These do not need to be consecutive;
5 days or more unauthorised absence due to holidays in term time;
The presence of an excluded child in a public place during school hours without reasonable justification during the first five days of a fixed period or permanent exclusion;
A pupil arrives after the registers have closed (marked with code ‘U’) on 10 or more separate occasions.
Failure to attend panel meetings on two occasions.
Fixed Penalty Notices will be issued by post. Payment of a Fixed Penalty Notice is £60 if paid within 21 days and £120 if paid after this time but within 28 days. Fixed Penalty Notices are restricted to 2 per pupil per parent in any academic year. The Local Authority retains any revenue from the Fixed Penalty Notices to cover enforcement costs. Non-payment of a Fixed Penalty Notice will result in the withdrawal of the notice and may trigger a prosecution of parents/carers by the Local Authority Attendance Team under Section 444 Education Act 1996. There is no right of appeal by parents/carers against a penalty notice.
Attendance Policy
To read the school’s Attendance Policy, click here.
