At St Oswald’s we know that good attendance is the key to successful schooling and we believe our pupils can be amongst the best. We aim for 100% attendance.

Attending school every day will help give your child the best possible start in life.

Going to school every day means:

• Learning new skills

• Making friends

• Having lots of fun

• Building lasting relationships

• Taking part in exciting activities

You can help us to help your child by encouraging regular school attendance.  We can offer support and guidance if you are finding it hard to get your child to school or if you have any concerns about attendance – please contact the school office.

Click on the picture below to read more about why attendance is important.

         Attendance Penalty Notice Update             

In the 2024/25 Academic Year, the Department for Education (DfE) made changes to the attendance codes and guidance. 

Please note these are set by the Department for Education and are not St. Oswald’s School policies. We are however asked to enforce these along with all other schools nationally.

The changes to be aware of are:

• The code for authorised holidays has been removed entirely and can no longer be used on registers
• Penalty notices issued for offences that take place after 19 August 2024 will be charged at a new rate of £160 per parent per child. This can be paid at £80 if paid within 21 days.
• Any second penalty notice issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period will be issued at the rate of £160 to be paid within 28 days with no option for a discounted rate.
• The threshold at which a penalty notice must be considered is set at 10 sessions (equivalent to 5 days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10-school week period. This may include absences because of arriving late after the register closes. The 10 school weeks may span different terms or school years.
• A maximum of 2 penalty notices may be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period, so at the 3rd offence another course of action will need to be considered (such as prosecution or one of the other attendance legal interventions).

To put this into context, if a parent/carer takes a pupil out of school without authorised leave of absence in term time for 5 days or more from September 2024, then a family with two parents would receive a penalty of £320 per child. This is halved if paid within 21 days for the first instance.

Regarding late marks, if a child arrives at school after the close of registers, we are required by the Department for Education to give a U code (‘late after registers close’). If this were to be recorded 10 times within a 10-week period, the guidance would be a statutory fine of £160 per parent (halved if paid within 21 days for the first instance).

We appreciate that these guidelines are significantly more severe than those in the past. It is because of this we wanted to inform you before the new academic year starts. As always, we will do everything reasonably possible to work with families to ensure strong attendance and give the children in our school community the best possible life chances.

A two week holiday in school time means your child has approximately 50 hours of missed work to catch up on.

Leave of Absence

By law you must ask for permission for your children to miss school. Leave in term time will only be agreed where the Headteacher feels there are exceptional circumstances. Also, it is possible that leave will not be agreed when attendance already includes unauthorised absence and/or attendance is already causing concern. You can request “leave in term time” for your child using a request form available at the School Office. Parents who take a child of compulsory school age on holiday without permission from the school may be issued with a penalty notice.

To help your child do well in school, you should:

• Arrange family holidays to coincide with school holidays.

• Never take your child out of school when there are important examinations or tests.

• Be aware of the potential impact on your child’s education

• Avoid taking your child out of school when they are just starting. This is very important, as your child needs to settle into their new environment as quickly as possible.

Reducing Illness Days

If your child is saying they do not feel well but you are unsure about whether it warrants a day off please send them to school. If they are truly ill we will ring you. Use common sense when deciding whether your child is too ill to attend school.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is my child well enough to do the activities of the school day?
• Does my child have a condition that could be passed on to other children or school staff?
• Would I take a day off work if I had this condition?

Medical Appointments

If your child has to have a medical or dental appointment in school time please do your best to have it after 2pm and then your child can have their registration mark for the afternoon before you pick them up. If it needs to be a morning appointment, please try and bring them to school first to get their mark and then return then to school afterwards. Every half-day absence from school has to be classified by the school as either AUTHORISED or UNAUTHORISED. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required. Authorised absences are mornings or afternoons away from school for a good reason like illness (where a child it too ill to attend school) medical/dental appointments which unavoidably fall in school time, emergencies or other unavoidable cause.

Help with your child's attendance

If you are having problems getting you child to school or have any concerns about attendance please contact Mr Hackley via the school office.

Please see our attendance policy which can be found on the policies page of our website.

If you are having problems getting you child to school or have any concerns about attendance please contact Mr Hackley via the school office.

Please see our attendance policy which can be found on the policies page of our website.

If you take 2 weeks holiday during term time your child’s attendance can never be higher than 94.7% even if they are in school every other day.

Following the changes to the attendance regulations made by the Department for Education it has been made clear that head teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances’. Any absence requests must be made in writing, in advance, to the school, please collect a form from the school office. A meeting will always be arranged to discuss any such holiday requests.

What is the expected attendance for primary school children?

The Government expect that pupils attend school for at least 96% of the school year. We aim to achieve at least that attendance percentage across our school. If you are not sure if your child should be in school you may find the guidance from the NHS useful. Please follow this link or search for ‘is my child too ill for school?’

If your child’s level of absence concerns us or attendance falls below 95%, you may be contacted by the school to look at what support can be offered to improve your child’s attendance. We want to work with you to ensure we give your child the best opportunities to grow and succeed.

Attendance that falls below 90% is categorised as persistent absence.

An attendance figure of 90% is the equivalent of a half-day absence every week. If your child is persistently absent, a number of things may happen depending upon the reasons for absence and your child’s previous attendance record.

You may receive a letter, an invitation to an attendance meeting, a home visit or, in serious cases, your child’s attendance may be closely monitored, and you may be asked to provide medical proof of absence.

If your child is absent for any reason please contact school on 01562 751056

We have a dedicated absence line so messages can be left 24 hours a day.

If no message has been received about an absence, for the safety of your child, good practice requires schools to try to contact parents as soon as possible to establish the reason for absence. If we are unable to contact parents, we may contact other sources such as other emergency contacts provided by you. If contact still isn't made, it may be necessary to do a home visit and/or contact the police. This is good safeguarding practice to ensure the safety of you and your child.

Please remember that if a child has vomited or had diarrhoea they must not return to school until they have had two school days clear of symptoms. Thank you for your continued support.

The Education Hub is a site for parents, pupils, education professionals and the media and is hosted by GOV.UK. The site contains lots of straight forward and accessible information about the education system.

How can you support good attendance in school?

• Take trips during school holidays rather than term time
• Don’t allow your child to stay off school for a minor ailment
• Arrive at school on time so your child doesn’t get a Late mark
• Ensure your child has a good understanding of why attendance is important
• Figure out the reasons for absence as this can help you understand where your child needs support in overcoming barriers to attending school
• Try to establish a good routine early so that when your child does start school, they have developed good habits such as getting plenty of sleep
• If appointments are needed for health reasons, try to make them during after school hours or out of term time where possible
• Offer support with homework and take an interest in their learning
• Attend parents’ evenings to discuss your child’s progress

We want children to be happy in school and have the best chances for their future.  Being in school as much as possible gives them the biggest chance of success.