Attendance & Punctuality

Lady Boswell’s School is committed to the continuous raising of achievement for all our pupils, and good attendance is critical if our pupils are to be successful and benefit from the opportunities presented to them.

Attendance

The government expects parents to uphold their legal duty to ensure their child attends school regularly. This means that their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.

At Lady Boswell’s we place a high value on the educational opportunities that we provide and research tells us that absence from school can seriously disrupt a child’s learning and wellbeing, not only do they miss out on teaching while they are away, but they are less prepared for future lessons when they return. Patterns of future good attendance, both at secondary school and in the workplace beyond, are heavily influenced by the foundations laid in their primary school education.

Parents can check their child’s current attendance via their Arbor app.  Our school target for attendance is 97%.

 

The government defines attendance below 90% as ‘persistent absence’ and we are required to monitor closely any attendance below 95%, which we do in accordance with our policy.

Children are required to attend school on 190 days per year.  This means that there are 175 days available to parents for holidays, trips, visits and attend non-urgent appointments. Therefore, other than in a small number of specific circumstances, absence other than illness will not be authorised. Lady Boswell’s is committed to the continued development of all of our pupils and regular attendance at school ensures that they have the opportunity to benefit from the fantastic educational, social, emotional and enrichment opportunities available here.

 

Morning Lateness

At Lady Boswell’s School, the gates are open from 8.40am to allow children plenty of time to be in class for when the register is taken at 8.50am.  Pupils arriving after 8.50 are marked as ‘Late’ (‘L’) in accordance with Government guidelines. Registration closes at 9am so any child arriving after 9am is required to be marked as ‘U’ which records the absence as unauthorised for that session.  A ‘late’ after 9am therefore counts as an absence in a pupil’s attendance figures. 

It is incredibly important that pupils arrive promptly in school to minimise disruption and ensure that they are ready to start their learning with the rest of their class.  Arriving in school in plenty of time also enables a calm start to the school day enabling pupils to begin their tasks in the best possible frame of mind. 

We are committed to working with parents to support all areas of school life.  If you feel you need any further support or wish to discuss your attendance with a member of school staff then please do contact our Family Support Worker, Miss Anna Pullen via the school office.

 

Early Collection

The timing of the school day has been carefully considered to ensure that every year group meets the requirements for statutory education and that end of day collection is managed in a safe and organised way.  As such, regular early collection is not acceptable and cannot continue unless there are exceptional circumstances that have been formally discussed with the Co-Headteachers.  Whilst it can be tempting to collect children early to avoid the rush, get ahead of the traffic or to ensure that they get to extra-curricular activities promptly, this simply cannot be facilitated as it is not scalable should all parents make similar requests.

We kindly ask that, where possible, appointments are arranged outside of school hours or during school holidays. If there are ongoing medical or personal circumstances that necessitate early collection, please contact the School Office or Miss Pullen, our Family Support Worker, to discuss this so that appropriate arrangements can be considered.

 

Request for Planned Absence (Holiday)

Headteachers are not obliged to authorise absences in term time and time off school for family holidays is not a right. The Government introduced a law in September 2013 that Headteachers are no longer able to authorise any annual holiday during term time, except in the below exceptional circumstances:

• For service personnel and other employees who are prevented from taking holidays outside term-time, provided the holiday will have minimal disruption to the pupil's education
• When a family needs to spend time together to support each other during or after a crisis

We therefore politely request that you arrange your family holiday in school holiday time rather than term time. Request for absences should be made to the headteacher by completing this form or sending a letter to the Headteacher at least 4 weeks in advance.  Parents will be notified of the outcome of the requests.