Cannon Park Primary School has a duty and responsibility to ensure that our pupils have a high level of attendance. We fulfil this role by regularly monitoring the attendance of all our pupils. At Cannon Park, we would like our pupils to aim for 98% attendance and strive for 100% attendance. By law, all children of compulsory school age must receive a suitable full-time education. Once your child is registered at school, you are legally responsible for making sure that they attend regularly. Lessons follow a sequence of learning. Missing a day learning interrupts that sequence for your child and they can find it difficult to catch up when they are back in school.
Parental Responsibility
It is the parent/carer’s responsibility to ensure that their child attends school daily.
It is the parent/carer’s responsibility to ensure that their child arrives on time every day.
It is the parent/carer’s responsibility to ensure that their child is picked up on time every day
Absence
If you child is absent, you must contact school immediately with the reason for absence, either by phone on 02476414683 or via email on [email protected]
Persistent Absence
There are 195 school days each year. If a child drops below 90% attendance, they are classed as persistently absent. This equates to 20 school days missed, for any reason, during one school year. Children, who are persistently absent are monitored in school and appropriate support is offered with the aim of improving attendance. The local authority attendance officer also monitors this group on a termly basis.
Leave of Absence
It is not acceptable to book a holiday in term time. If you remove your child from school for a holiday, it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. Our policy allows for time off for truly exceptional circumstances, but these are relatively rare. A form is available from the school office, or available below, and must be completed before arranging any time off. Please email [email protected] for more information. Please ensure you include as much detail as possible regarding leave of absence requests.
Illness
We understand that if your child is unwell, they should not attend school. However if a child has a sniffle or is a bit tired, then we are able to look after them whilst involving them in learning activities. Please bear this in mind when you decide whether to bring them in. We will always call you if they are not coping during the school day.
Monitoring and Support
At Cannon Park, we monitor attendance daily and weekly and we make contact with any families we feel may need support, either for attendance or punctuality. It is our aim to help parents to work towards better attendance. Often parents are not aware of how repeated absences can impact their child’s education and social development.
At Cannon Park Primary School, it is an expectation that our children aim for 98% attendance.
