Attendance

For our children to gain the greatest benefit from their education, it is vital that they attend regularly and be at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.

Children’s regular attendance and punctuality at school are important and have an impact on their learning, attainment, and wellbeing. Research has proven that pupils who do not regularly attend school are more likely to fall short of achieving their full academic potential.

The national expectation of attendance for school children is 96%. If your child’s attendance falls below this level, you will be asked to attend a meeting with the Headteacher. If the attendance level falls below 90%, this will be considered as persistent absence and will be reported to the Children Missing in Education Service.

If your child misses 10 sessions (i.e., 5 days) of school within a 10-week period, you may incur a Penalty Charge Notice. Parents should also note that if your child misses 6 sessions (i.e., 3 days) or more within the first 2 weeks of September, you may also be referred for a penalty notice.

Below is a table showing the percentage calculated for attendance and how these are categorised. As you can see, anything below 96% is considered a cause for concern, so we do hope parents will fully support their child’s learning by encouraging regular attendance.

Our school attendance policy can be found on our policies page.

There is no entitlement to parents to take their child out of school during term time; however, you may apply to the school for leave of absence if you believe there are exceptional circumstances. You will need to complete a Leave of Absence application form. As from 1st September 2013, the Education (Pupil Registration, England) Regulations 2013 amended Regulation 7 to prohibit the Headteacher of a maintained school from granting leave of absence to a pupil, except where an advance application has been made by the parent with whom the pupil normally resides, and the Headteacher considers that there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application. Parents/carers need to be aware that due to these regulations, most absence requests will go unauthorised.

At Langenhoe, if a child is absent from school, the parent must contact the school on the first day of absence before 9.20am. We request that they do so via email detailing the reason for the child’s absence. If they are unable to email before 9.20am, the school has an answerphone available to leave a message if nobody is available to take your call, or you may call into school personally and speak to the office staff. Any verbal notifications of absence must be followed by an email stating the reason for absence as we do require written notification. Failing which, you will be sent an email or electronic absence form to complete. More details can be found in our school attendance policy.

School opens at 8.45am and we expect all pupils to arrive to school on time as we believe good time-keeping is a vital life skill that will help children as they progress through their school life and out into the wider world. Pupils who arrive late disrupt lessons, and if a child misses the start of the day, they can feel unsettled and embarrassed, miss vital work, and important messages from their class teacher.

All school staff and the Governing Body are committed to working with parents and pupils as this is the best way to ensure as high a level of attendance at our school as possible.