Attendance

90% Attendance = Half a school day missed EVERY week!

 

1 school year at 90% attendance = 4 WEEKS of learning missed!

 

In 5 years at school, 90% attendance means HALF A SCHOOL YEAR missed!

Attendance Target 2022/23: Over 96%

Every day in school counts and we aim once again to have our whole school attendance surpassing 96%. We ask for your support in this by imploring families not to book holidays during term time and ensuring your child is in school whenever possible. 

 

Our Attendance 2021/22: 93.31%

Sadly, we did not meet our target last academic year. This was largely due to holidays being taken in term time as well as Covid-19 related absence. 

 

Our Attendance 2020/21: 96.17%

Despite the challenges of the global pandemic, we were absolutely thrilled to meet our 96% target for attendance during the last academic year.

 

 

Our Attendance 2019/20 (September 2019 – March 2020 Lockdown): 94.3% 

We were very disappointed with our attendance figure in Autumn 2.  However, we acknowledge the huge impact of a sickness bug in the lead up to Christmas. As a school, we strictly followed all advice issued by Public Health England to prevent the spread of this bug, but recognise the detrimental effect of this on our attendance. Staff and pupils were then very pleased that we were above our minimum attendance target of 96% for Spring 1 (96.5%), but sadly school then went into the national lockdown due to Covid-19.

 

 

Your child’s attendance matters to us

A leave of absence’ during term time can only be granted in exceptional circumstances.

Leave of absence forms can be obtained from the school office. There is an electronic copy attached below for your convenience. Please ensure that completed forms are handed into the school office prior to any absence.

The school office will contact parents/carers in the morning as part of our first response where the reason for absence have not been reported to us. Regular checks on individual percentages are carried out and families are contacted when their child’s attendance causes a concern. These families are requested to attend a meeting with the Educational Welfare Officer and Mrs Clisby, Pastoral Lead.

Please be aware that  if your child’s attendance falls below 92% they are at risk of becoming a persistent absentee and school will have a  meeting with you to discuss this concern. if your child’s attendance falls below 90%, they are classed as being a persistent absentee. in these cases school will make a referral to the Education Welfare Service.

Thank you for your continued support and hard work in helping us achieve our attendance aims. We are passionate about hitting the 96% target we have set.

Guide to criteria for non-attendance leading to a penalty notice possibly being given.
  • 20 sessions (5 school days) of unauthorised absence, including unauthorised holiday, during a period of 10 school days. The absences do not need to be consecutive.

We would try and ensure that we work with you to resolve any problems that may attribute to non-attendance/lateness before taking this last line of action.

St. John Vianney Catholic Primary School, Elton Head Road, Sutton Heath, St. Helens, WA9 5BT