The Beacon

The Beacon Folkestone The Beacon Walmer

Attendance

A Guide for Parents & Carers

How good is your child’s attendance?

Attendance raises achievement – every lesson counts.

Please take some time to read through the statements on this page. If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance please contact our Multi-Agency Officers via email or by calling 01303 847555 Ext 4.

Why is attendance important?

Attending school on a regular basis is the key to your child doing well at school and sets them up with good habits from an early age through to adulthood and the working world.

It also gives children the opportunity to:

  • make lots of friends and feel included;
  • boost social skills, confidence and self-esteem;
  • develop their skills to learn new things;
  • achieve their full potential;
  • improve their career prospects.

Small changes can make a big difference

Parents are advised to:

  • show your child that you think school is important;
  • not keep your child off school if they are worried or have a problem – you should come and talk to the Multi-Agency Officers;
  • praise your child’s achievements;
  • recognise that if your child gets into bad habits from an early age, these are hard to break later in life

How good is your child’s attendance?

All pupils are expected to reach levels of at least 95% attendance to be able to access and achieve their full potential at school.

90% attendance might sound good, but…

90% attendance is the same as:

  • 1/2 day missed each week
  • 20 days in each school year
  • a full month out of school

 

So, 90% is not as good as it first seems.

97% and above = Excellent

95%-97% = Good

90%-95% = Be aware

80%-90% = Worrying – less chance of achieving full potential

Less than 80% = Serious concerns – referral to Early Help and/or School Liaison Officer

What can I do to increase my child’s attendance?

Only keep your child at home for genuine illness.

Avoid taking holidays in school time.

Parents and Carers have a responsibility to make sure that their children aged 5 to 16 years attend school regularly, on time and receive a full-time education.

It is the Law

A child registered at a school can legally miss school only in very limited circumstances. These are:

  • when your child is really too ill to attend;
  • when the school have authorised the absence beforehand.

If your child is missing without good reason, schools and local authorities have a number of legal powers that they can use.

Authorised Absences include:

  • genuine illness resulting with seeing a doctor;
  • religious observances;
  • family bereavement.

Unauthorised absences include:

  • holidays;
  • birthday celebrations;
  • oversleeping;
  • shopping.

 

How to apply for your child to be absent during term time

The Beacon Folkestone are unable to authorise any holiday requests. Any request for leave are to be made to the Head of School using our Leave Request Form available from the school office. The Head of School will decide if the absence will be authorised after the reason has been given.

What action do you need to take should your child be absent?

You must phone on the first day of Absence leaving your child’s name, class, reason for absence and expected date of return. Please provide any medical evidence your receive from the doctor.

If your child is still unable to return to school on the expected date, please let us know.

If you have not done any of the above while your child was absent, then you will need to write a letter on your child’s first day back to school explaining the reason for absence and you must provide medical evidence.

Late arrival to school

When your child arrives late at school, he/she misses the teacher’s instructions and the introduction to the lesson.

Your child may also feel embarrassed at having to enter the classroom late.

School begins at 9AM.

Please help your child to be punctual.

Minutes late per day during the school year How many days per year is this equal to?
5 minutes 3.4 days
10 minutes 6.9 days
15 minutes 10.3 days
20 minutes 13.8 days
25 minutes  20.7 days
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