School Holidays and Attendance
At St. Wulstan’s we know that regular attendance is directly linked to raising achievement and develops skills for life and work. Please support the school in this by ensuring that your child attends school regularly and arrives ready to learn and on time at 9am. Our doors open at 8:45am.
Analysis of the KS2 SATs clearly shows that the children who are regularly late score LOWER than those children who arrive on time every day. Being 20 minutes late every day means you miss 100 minutes of Maths every week. Multiply this by 39 weeks a year = 3900 minutes missed a year. Basically this is 65 hours missed a year!
Click here to read our Attendance Policy.
Attendance Matters
Primary national pupil attendance is around 96%. This means that a child needs to attend school for at least 177 out of 190 days to meet national expectations.
Understanding types of absence
Every ½ day absence from school, by law, has to be classified as either authorised or unauthorised. This is why information about the cause of absence is always asked for.
Authorised absences are mornings or afternoons away from school for a good reason such as illness, medical appointments and emergencies.
An absence is classified as Unauthorised, if the reason was not recognised as acceptable. The Department for Education (DfE) and Local Education Authorities provide information for schools as what is acceptable and what is not.
Examples of reasons that would not be accepted:
A birthday
A shopping trip
Day trips
Holidays – unless have been agreed as exceptional circumstances
What should I do if my child is absent from school?
Contact the school office on the first morning before and notify us of the absence and provide a reason.
Illness
We know that illness is unavoidable and to be expected. However, it is very important to inform the school on the first day of absence, with the reason either by phone, by letter, or in person at the school office. If your child has been sick or had diarrhoea, then they must be out of school for 48 hours after their last bout of illness. If your child is ill for longer than three days, it is recommended that they see a doctor. Please be prepared to show school an appointment card as proof of visit. Without this, if your child is off for a week or more and school suspect you have taken your child on holiday, it will be marked as an unauthorised absence. (Home School Liaison and Local Authority Attendance Officers will undertake home visits, if it is suspected that a family are actually on holiday to check the child is at home ill and not fit for school).
Click on the link for the Public Health 'Guidance on Infectious Diseases' that the school must follow regarding any other illnesses presenting in school. This gives advice to avoid spreading infections and how long your child needs to be out of school if an infectious disease is diagnosed.
Public Health Guidance on Infectious Diseases.
How long should I keep my child off school for? October 2023
Punctuality
It is very important that all children arrive on time. If your child arrives late, they will not be able to come into school via usual morning entrance doors but should instead come through the main school entrance. We will then be able to mark registers and ensure your child is marked for a school dinner. The school gates open at 8:40am so that everyone can be in the playground before the bell goes at 9:00am. Staff will open the hall doors at 8:45am to welcome the children into school. The school register will open at 9:00am. Children are expected to be ready for lessons at this time.
If you arrive after this time, you must report to the main office. You will then need to sign your child in. This will record the time you arrive and the reason for later arrival.
Please note that if your children arrives at school later than 9:15am, we are required to mark them as absent for that half day session.
If children are regularly late, a parent will be expected to attend a meeting to look at how punctuality can be improved.
School finishes at 3.30pm and children need to be collected on time. The school strongly recommends that all children in Year 4 and below are accompanied by an adult on the way to school and that Year 5 and 6 children only travel without an adult if the parent is fully satisfied that it is safe for them to do so.
If you are unavoidably detained and will be late collecting, PLEASE LET SCHOOL KNOW. If this is a one off situation, we will always try to help.
Promoting Attendance and Support
We believe that working together with parents is the best way to result in positive attendance outcomes for our children.
We have lots of high profile rewards and systems in school to promote good attendance and punctuality with the children.
Our Home School Liaison Officer, Wendy Schofield, is happy to work with both children and families to improve attendance and punctuality. Come and talk to us if you are having problems.
Attendance Monitoring
As attendance and punctuality is so important to us, we cannot be complacent where there are instances of unacceptable, low pupil attendance, or if pupils are regularly late to school.
Lancashire Education Authority is keen that we adopt measures and involve external agencies if the level of attendance requires us to do so. A computer generates reports termly and letters are sent to ALL parents where attendance is below 90%.
Holidays in Term Time
Your children only attend school for 190 days out of 365. This leaves 175 days for holidays. Please book your holidays during these 175 days of school holidays.
Authorisation can only be given in 'exceptional circumstances' e.g. a parent working in the armed forces and only on leave during school time and at the discretion of the Headteacher. It is vital that a form requesting the holiday is given in. If you take your child out of school without informing us, they may be reported as a 'Missing Child' to the Safeguarding Team.
Click here for Application for Leave of Absence
Frequently Asked Questions, Penalty Notices